This past Tuesday, four conservative leaders launched a project that even liberals can cheer: the American Freedom Agenda. According to this press release, “AFA’s mission is to enact legislation that restores ‘the Constitution’s checks and balances’ and makes the subject ‘a staple of political campaigns and of foremost concern to Members of Congress and to voters and educators.'”
The AFA launched a ten point plan:
— End the use of military commissions to prosecute crimes.
— Prohibit the use of secret evidence or evidence obtained by torture.
— Prohibit the detention of American citizens as enemy combatants without proof.
— Restore habeas corpus for alleged alien combatants.
— End National Security Agency warrentless wiretapping. — Empower Congress to challenge presidential signing statements.
— Bar executive use of the state secret privilege to deny justice.
— Prohibit the President from collaborating with foreign governments to kidnap, detain of torture persons abroad. — Amend the Espionage Act to permit journalists to report on classified national security matters without threat of persecution.
— Prohibit of the labeling of groups or individuals in the U.S. as global terrorists based on secret evidence.
The AFA also offers a Presidential Pledge. By signing the pledge, “presidential candidates commit themselves to implement the ten-point plan if elected.”
The Liberty Coalition, of which DownsizeDC.org is a partner, applauds this effort, and DownsizeDC.org enthusiastically endorses it. We are pleased to see Americans on the Right are concerned about the erosion of civil liberties, and believe this is a trans-partisan issue that Americans of all parties and ideological stripes can rally around.