This from the American Freedom Campaign on January 31:

Just six months ago today, we launched the American Freedom Campaign with the mission of building a grassroots movement to restore our Constitution and our system of checks and balances.  In a short time, we have made tremendous strides.  But we now need your help to keep the momentum going.>>

If you support our mission and our work, please consider making a contribution to AFC today.  Any amount would be appreciated and would go toward supporting the activities described near the bottom of this email.

To make a contribution, just click on the following link:

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/2629/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=2644

In six short months, the American Freedom Campaign has grown from an idea to a true movement.  Here are some of the highlights:

We have partnered with some of the most prominent organizations in the country, including Human Rights Watch, Alliance for Justice, Brennan Center for Justice, Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, Equal Justice Society, Electronic Frontier Foundation, MoveOn.org, Amnesty International USA, and many others.  Along side these organizations, we are addressing issues from torture to warrantless wiretapping to President Bush's proposed agreement with Iraq.

We launched a campaign called American Lawyers Defending the Constitution, which has brought together prominent individuals — from former New York governor Mario Cuomo on the left to former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein on the right — along with more than 100 law professors.  Overall, more than 2,000 lawyers and law students have signed the campaign statement calling for more vigorous congressional investigations into abuses of the Constitution carried out by the Bush administration.

We have built an email list of more than 35,000 activists like yourself.  While many other start-up organizations spend money to build their email lists, we are proud to say that we have not spent a penny on this effort — aside from covering staff time.  Rather, our list has grown as people have been drawn to our site either by reading about AFC online or by having our action alerts forwarded to them by friends or family.

We are having an impact in Congress.  Collectively, AFC supporters have responded more than 50,000 times to requests to send emails to Congress.  Recently, AFC was one of the first organizations — if not the first — to ask supporters to contact Congress about President Bush's plan to negotiate and sign an agreement with Iraq, making long-term economic and military commitments, without congressional approval.  We have also been one of the most active organizations in the country pushing for contempt citations against Bush administration officials who defied Congress and refused to testify about the U.S. Attorneys scandal.  AFC supporters have sent almost 19,000 emails to their U.S. representatives about this issue!  Combined with our additional work behind the scenes, this has helped keep the issue alive and we hope that a vote in the House occurs in the near future.

If you want to help keep this momentum going, please make a contribution today.  One click on the link below will get you started:

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/2629/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=2644

Your contribution will support the American Freedom Campaign as it fights to reverse constitutional abuses that have occurred over the past seven years and to restore checks and balances in Washington.  Specifically, AFC will direct its energy toward the following battles:

Contempt.  Holding Bush administration officials in contempt for defying congressional subpoenas is necessary in order to maintain our system of checks and balances.  As noted above, we are already pushing for final passage of a contempt resolution in the House and will continue to do so.

Iraq.  Future commitments in Iraq cannot be determined by the President alone.  AFC will fight to ensure that any agreement between the two countries is approved by Congress.  We will also oppose a recent "signing statement" by President Bush, with which he expressed an intent to ignore a congressional prohibition on using federal funds to establish permanent military bases in Iraq.

Torture.  Congress is considering legislation that would require the CIA to adopt the same standards for interrogations as the military, which would effectively put an end to many of the "enhanced interrogation" techniques employed in the past by the CIA.  The House has already approved this legislation, but it has been stalled in the Senate.  AFC will work with our allies to push for final passage of this legislation.

The American Freedom Agenda Act.  Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) are co-sponsors of this act, which would reverse many of the constitutional abuses that have occurred over the past seven years.  It reflects many of the goals expressed in our 10-point agenda and we are therefore committed to building support for the legislation.

In addition to addressing these issues, we are certain that others will arise during the year.  We will keep on top of developments and take action when it is necessary and appropriate.  Whether you are able to help us financially or not, we hope that you will remain involved in our movement and will take action when we send out alerts.

We really appreciate your support and look forward to fighting with you in the future.

Best,
Steve

Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund