Having listened in to Congressman Thompson”s telephone town hall meeting, I came away with some impressions.
First, I came away thinking that the majority of questions were well thought out and well reasoned with a distinct local slant to many of the questions.
Many of the questions concerned apprehension by callers for their Social Security checks continuing to come. I thought Mike handled those questions very well and to me he came across as very reassuring.
In fact, I was amazed at how well he handled almost all of the questions, including some of the more aggressive questions regarding excess Congressional privileges compared to private citizens. I”m not sure how accurate he was in defusing citizens concerns over that issue but for myself I definitely came away with the feeling that Mr. Thompson himself is an honest man and would not abuse his rights for personal gain. I wish all Congressmen could be trusted in that way but perhaps everyone feels that way about their own Congressman or Congresswoman.
I regret, in retrospect, not asking a question of my own, but I thought for sure someone else would ask it. So that was a negligent thought on my part and didn”t help the working of democracy by my not asking it.
I”m writing this letter in the hope that Mr. Thompson will read this and address my concern. I have read in recent days that a troubling defense authorization bill has just been passed by Congress.
In this bill any American citizen can be held indefinitely in custody without trial and transferred to Guantanamo Bay prison. The only qualification for this happening is that the American citizen is deemed a possible terrorist. Unstated in this law is that any person deemed a political threat to people in power could, by inference, be deemed a threat to national security, just as Julian Assange was deemed a threat to national security by revealing merely embarrassing national diplomatic secrets.
It is no exaggeration, Mr. Thompson, that we can build a house with beautiful and well-appointed rooms in it, but if we build it with a poor foundation the whole structure is at risk.
While I applaud your good representation of our local interests here, (keep it up!), I can”t help but think a major foundational safeguard of our entire system is being removed from below.
I was always concerned about the removal of habeas corpus for foreign nationals under the Bush administration. This new move is infinitely worse. Your comments in the telephone conversation where you referred to there being people who wanted to hurt us residing in Virginia and New York did not calm my concerns.
While you may have been referring to genuine terror suspects I can”t help but think this is far too nebulous and undefined an accusation to go unchallenged, especially with this new law about to go onto the books.
While I have not yet personally participated in the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, except by voicing approval, I know that the OWS movement is gaining traction and is increasingly becoming an embarrassment to the monied interests in this country.
Can you guarantee that with the passage of this new law that American citizens who have been demonstrating will not be subject to removal to Guantanamo Bay?
I know it might sound ridiculous now but this is how fascist regimes start. You open the door to it with new laws that give too much authority to the military. Please Mr. Thompson, address this issue.
Eric Habegger
Lakeport
