Dear Senator McCain:

I am writing to ask you to oppose the renewal of the so-called "PATRIOT Act," and to support the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The PATRIOT Act, as written, violates the 4th Amendment by allowing secret searches of homes with no evidence of wrongdoing. It also curtails the checks and balances of judicial review by forcing judges to issue warrants at the FBI's demand. It encroaches on the rights of gun owners in ways illegal under the 2nd Amendment, and has been used by the Bush Administration to hold suspects illegally in violation of the 5th and 6th Amendments.

Although it makes sense to require the FBI and CIA to cooperate in fighting terrorists, the so-called PATRIOT Act goes too far by undermining our basic freedoms. Senator, I call upon you to vote against the extension of the PATRIOT Act, and to write a new counter-terror law that protects our freedoms.

The PATRIOT Act is only one pillar in the temple George W. Bush has erected to himself in his campaign to erode our system of checks and balances and seize ever more power. Another one of those pillars is the arrest and detention of suspects indefinitely with no due process or judicial review. This has already been done, with Jose Padilla and the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Senator, I call upon you to demand that Padilla and the Guantanamo prisoners be charged with crimes and put on trial.

Senator McCain, I voted for you in the 2000 primaries because I believed you were a patriot and a man of courage. Since then, I have seriously questioned those beliefs. In 2002-2003, dozens of experts in the Middle East (such as Brent Scowcroft) and millions of anti-war protesters told the truth -- that Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda were enemies, and that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were vastly exaggerating Saddam's arsenal. As is now public knowledge, Scowcroft and the protesters were completely correct -- and yet Bush sent our troops into danger anyway, in a war that was completely unnecessary.

Over 1500 American soldiers have now died in this war. But at the Republican National Convention, you categorized Bush and Cheney as men of "moral courage." You also characterized Cheney as "a steady, experienced, public-spirited man," when there is evidence that the Vice President was behind a campaign to misrepresent intelligence regarding Iraq's weapons to Congress, the American people, and the world. And even though all Bush and Cheney's arguments for war have been discredited, you said, "I believe as strongly today as ever, the mission was necessary, achievable and noble."

Senator McCain, you know the war in Iraq is wrong. We need to bring our troops home as soon as is realistically possible. Senator, I call upon you to condemn the war. I further ask you to step up to the plate and provide the Republican Party with a responsible leadership that displays true moral courage in only sending our soldiers into danger when absolutely necessary. The nation is desperate for a Republican leader who bases his decisions on the facts, not on his ambitions. I likewise call upon you to demand the resignation of Vice President Cheney, and the resignations of Secretaries Rumsfeld, Rice and Gonzales.

Senator McCain, I salute you for condemning the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. I salute you for opposing a Constitutional amendment to regulate marriage. I salute you for opposing the so-called "nuclear option" to ban Senate filibusters. And I salute you for your efforts in campaign finance reform. Your career has been one of service to this country, but you have not gone far enough. In the long run, our nation needs your leadership to demand that our troops be brought home from Iraq. In the short run, we need you to condemn the PATRIOT Act and to write a anti-terror law that upholds the Constitution!

Sincerely,
C. Colvin