Letter to My House Representative

Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen

My name is Christopher Fleites.  While in high school I interned at your Miami office, and since reaching voting age I have voted for you in every single election.  You have also been very generous supporting my family through tough times, and for that, I am grateful.

On July 24, 2013 there was an important vote in the House (Amash’s Amendment # 100 to H.R. 2397) that would have helped prevent the blanket and irresponsible collection of data by the NSA on hundreds of millions of innocent law abiding Americans citizens without a warrant or proper judicial oversight.  By voting against this amendment you are directly responsible for placing my private and personal information at risk.  The NSA's program can easily be construed as criminal, and its breadth goes above and beyond what is necessary to protect America from danger. 

The program's very existence- in addition to being an embarrassment for the U.S. in the national and global community- compromises the integrity of this country, and places our private information, and our constitutional right to privacy at risk. Yourself having been born in Cuba, and having witnessed the negative consequences of the government eroding the privacy rights of Cuban nationals, I am disappointed that you would facilitate the American government’s intrusion into its citizens’ personal lives. 

Even if we are to take the word of James Clapper (who unreservedly committed perjury in a Congressional Intelligence Committee hearing) as true, and believe that there are safeguards in place that prevent the NSA from peering into the content of our private communications, the infrastructure is in place that would make it possible for the government to radically expand the scope of its intrusiveness should it decide to.  And given the current trend, we are more of an inch than an ell away from living in a country whose government cannot guarantee any expectation of privacy to its citizens, and treats its statesmen and allies the same way it treats its enemies.      

I cannot in good conscience continue to support a candidate who allows my tax dollars to fund a program that spies on me and other law abiding Americans.  You will not have my vote when you are up for re-election.

-Christopher Fleites

“War is peace. 
Freedom is slavery. 
Ignorance is strength.” 
― George Orwell