We are a proud group of Obama supporters who believe in his call for hope and a new kind of politics. We ask President Obama and Congress to reject the politics of fear on national security, and work to get FISA right.
A brief history of Get FISA Right
Please visit our our blog at http://getfisaright.wordpress.com for recent news.
A brief history of Get FISA Right
- In our first two weeks (June 26-July 9 2008), we became the largest group on my.barackobama.com, wrote an open letter to Barack -- and he responded. Some good reading here:
- Mardi's Please Don't ... Senator and Mike Stark's Will Obama feel the sting of social networking? kicked it off.
- Carlo Scannella's Nomadic Democracy covers our technology and organization
- Ari Melber's Online Activists Keep the Pressure on Obama sets us in the context of net movements
- Dawn Teo's Networked Obama FISA Group Takes Fight Forward is the definitive (so far) history of this time period
- Mike Stark's Why progressives should keep organizing on MyBarackObama.com has some forward-looking perspectives
- After the FISA vote on July 9, we shifted our attention to attempting to influence the Democratic party platform, via the "listening meetings" and the netroots platform. Reports from Platform Meetings from the discussion forums and Ronit Aviva Dancis' Reflecting on the Platform Draft are good overviews of this phase.
- Partnering with SaysMe.tv, we produced and aired two rounds of cable TV ads/YouTube videos. Sarah Lai Stirland's Opposed to Wiretap Amensty? Run a TV Ad for Six Bucks discusses Don't let our Constitution die; Jon Pincus' On the air in St. Paul covers the ads we aired at the Republican National Convention.
- After the conventions, members generally turned their attention to the election and there was virtually no activity other than fund-raising for a Senate candidate who was strong on civil liberties. Discussion resumed in mid-November; the Now what? page has an overview and links out to various topics.
- In December 2008, we began focusing on the Ideas for Change in America competition, continued our collaboration with SaysMe.tv on our next ad, and started planning for 2009, concentrating initially on communications channels and strategy
- In January 2009, we finished #5 in Ideas for Change in America with over 12000 votes, holding our own against ideas with sponsorship from non-profits and groups with huge mailing lists.
On January 13-14, we voted overwhelmingly to endorse a special prosecutor. As Sally G said in the voting thread,
We must defend the Constitution; whereas we must move forward, we cannot allow the Bush-administration precedents to stand. Nixon’s misconduct led to the passage of FISA; current attempts to short-circuit the Constitution must be followed up similarly.
- On Inauguration Day, we premiered our new video on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and Comedy Central in Washington DC.
- In September 2009, we sprang to life again as part of the debate about reauthorizing the Patriot Act. Our first action is to support the JUSTICE Act on Facebook and Twitter.
- Since then, we've continued to get involved in activism around reauthorization of FISA and the Patriot Act. With Section 215 sunsetting in March 2020, and calls from both parties for reform of Section 702, we're still fighting for our civil liberties!