The battle over the Patriot Act

Re “New Life for Patriot Act Is No Bush Win,” Dec. 22

The Times has convinced itself that the six-month extension of the Patriot Act agreed to Wednesday night is a defeat for the administration. It was, but it is no win for the Democrats. The irresponsibility of the Democrats will be on full display as the 2006 congressional election nears. They have convinced themselves that the public shares their disregard for national security. If they are wrong, they will have an unparalleled opportunity to find out in a decisive way. At the polls.

They’d better hope they are correct.

MICHAEL KENNEDY

Mission Viejo

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The Patriot Act seems to be a big thing with Congress, but the way I see it, the president has the authority, so it seems, to do it without Congress or anyone else. Call it executive authority.

ERNEST MOHNIKE

Chino

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Congress expended way too much time and effort debating the finer points surrounding renewal of the Patriot Act. There was no need to pass this law when existing laws meant to ensure basic freedoms are circumvented in the name of national security. If King George Bush can violate existing laws, order our government to operate secret interrogation camps overseas and bug the phones of U.S. citizens, Congress should turn its attention to impeaching the president, not debating a law that will be ignored at whim.

JEFFREY HAIN

Woodland Hills

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It is disappointing that the Senate buckled under to the executive’s Constitution-busting demands by extending the Patriot Act, whose substance is 180 degrees off of its label. There is nothing patriotic about continually eroding the magnificent design of the framers of the Constitution that individual liberty was to be the default position in matters between individuals and their supposedly limited government.

Let us enter the new year with a resolution to return to the original concepts of the framers, which include no standing army, small government doing only necessary things and that minds its own business on the international scene, and a celebration of individual liberty in contests with that small government. Or else let’s just move on to Revolution No. 2.

MICHAEL J. KENNEDY

Palm Springs