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Evan Greer: Sure. So, in an immediate way, this bill, the continuing resolution, this pending bill's coming up for a vote, literally potentially as we speak right now. Everyone should contact their representatives and tell them to vote against it and to make it clear that they're voting against it because it includes a reauthorization of the Patriot Act.
Our position is that these authorities never should have been granted in the first place. They shouldn't be reauthorized for one more day, much less three more months, and certainly not beyond that. Everyone needs to recognize that this is an issue that's not going to get solved overnight. So beyond contacting your representatives today, I strongly recommend that you get in touch with, follow, become a member of organizations that are actively fighting against expanded government surveillance. My organization, Fight for the Future, is one, Free Press, Demand Progress are out there doing important work, The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and many others. As well as Media Justice, Color of Change, Racial Justice and immigration groups have been opposing this.
So get involved with some of the organizations that are fighting [inaudible 00:06:10] government surveillance and overly broad government surveillance because this is a moment where we need to draw a line in the sand. Democratic leadership are increasingly becoming more and more friendly to surveillance. As the Democratic party really tries to present itself as the party of national security, which frankly is extremely dangerous, from my perspective, we're seeing an erosion of willingness among Democrats to fight for policies that protect our basic rights and civil liberties. So we can't allow that to happen. We, as a progressive movement, need to fight to ensure that leadership in Congress, from both sides of the aisle, fight for meaningful reform and reign in these government surveillance programs that are ineffective, a waste of money, and a huge invasion of our privacy, civil and human rights.
Greg Wilpert: Okay, well, we're going to leave it there for now. I was speaking to Evan Greer, deputy director of the organization Fight for the Future. Thanks again, Evan, for having joined us today.
Evan Greer: Thanks for having me on.
Greg Wilpert: And thank you for joining The Real News Network.
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