Bill of Rights Defense Campaign

BILL OF RIGHTS Defense Committee - Working with communities to uphold the Bill of RightsWe the People
Working with communities to uphold the Bill of Rights
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August Congressional Recess - What We Can Do

  1. Find out how your senators and representative voted on S. 1927 (the "Protect America Act" surveillance bill.
  2. Learn from Congressional offices, newspapers, or television coverage where they will be holding town hall style meetings in the community. You may have to ferret them out - for some reason our senators aides may seem particularly secretive about when and where they're going to be facing the public. They often want to do veterans meetings with only veterans invited; senior meetings with only those over 65 etc. But find out - be persistent in your phone calls to their local offices. And check the local newspaper and television stations - congressional staff will chide you if you haven't tuned into the corporate media outlet for your news.
  3. Alert everyone you know about upcoming town hall meetings. Before the town hall meeting, strategize with others about sitting in separate areas of the hall, so more of you will be called on for questions. Wear consservative clothing, so you look more like an ordinary resident who might not usually follow what's going on in the Capitol. If you have enough people there, you can have a block of Bill of Rights Defense contingent with signs or t-shirts that stand out. And make sure you take photos of your town hall action! Send photos to BORDC, and we'll publish some of them in our upcoming 2008 calendar celebrating grassroots action.
  4. If your elected representatives voted to increase executive authority to wiretap, undermining the Fourth Amendment and our nation's checks and balances, you can:
    • Take a copy of the Book of Resolutions, showing community support for the Bill of Rights throughout the United States. Download a copy as a full document or in three parts.
    • Join with allies to get a meeting with your representative. Talk to them about why this vote was not acceptable to your community, and that you hope to work together to strengthen the representative's commitment to the Bill of Rights.
    • Use BORDC talking points to craft your questions about the reason for her or his vote.
    • Demonstrate outside the Town Meeting, and send in a representative to ask for time with the congressional representative to discuss your grievances.
    • Turn your back on those representatives and senators who betrayed the Bill of Rights with t-shirts or signs (Burma Shave Style -one word per sign or t-shirt) that read
      • "Betrayed our Bill of Rights. Again!
      • "Protect the Fourth Amendment: Vote Against More Executive Spy Power!"
      • "The politician who sells our Bill o f Rights will never get my vote."
      • "Give me Liberty. Don't give me FISA Modernization!"
      • "Just What Part of Liberty and Justice for All do you NOT understand?"
      • "They That Can Give Up Essential Liberty to Obtain a Little Temporary Safety Deserve Neither Liberty Nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
  5. To those senators and representatives who stood up for the Bill of Rights, our thanks and support must be conveyed with appreciation and applause. For information on building relationships with members of Congress, check out the audio of this BORDC workshop, including detailed materials -- explaining everything from an 8-step process in how to prepare for your visit, to writing the post-visit letter.
    • Letters to the editor and editorial opinions praising your senators' and representative's willingness to stand firm to protect the Bill of Rights must be acknowledged and encouraged.
    • Send copies of those letters and editorials to congressional offices.
    • Your elected representatives need to know that the community will be paying attention, so they can go back in six months and reverse not only this bill, but create safeguards for checks and balances in our government to be honored, especially when it comes to surveillance
  6. This is a month to raise public awareness.
    • Make sure those letters to the editor and editorial boards continue to pound on the fact that the Bill of Rights has been sold to the bidder with the highest level of fear-mongering.
    • Hold public meetings.
    • Join with allies to pay for a full-page signature ad in the local newspaper. Each person who signs the ad pays $5 to $10, which will easily pay for your ad with a 50 to 100 signaturers.
  7. Start planning Constitution Day activities. Every school that gets federal money is mandated to have public events on Constitution Day (Monday, Sep 17), or during the week before or after that date. BORDC has many suggestions for leading community activities.
  8. Begin planning a showing of the new BORDC video about how the government has misused and abused the power of National Security Letters. We hope to provide the 30-minute DVD free near the end of August. So, you can plan your early September events, or Constitution Day (Sep 17) events with the BORDC video in mind. Write to our campaign coordinator to let us know if you're already starting to plan to show the video.
  9. BORDC's 30-minute video allows plenty of time for discussion afterwards, and provides the seeds for your own NSL resolution modeled after the resolutions passed by Eureka Springs, AR and Brighton, NY - both of which say the community will refuse FBI NSLs if the local government determines it is illegal. It's a powerful local statement about national policies. Take a look at these resolutions, which you can use as models:
    Eureka Springs, AR
     Brighton, NY

You can also make up your own resolution, crafted from sample phrases that address egregious government actions that have undermined the Bill of Rights since September 2001.