Todays Civics Lesson
Mar 6th, 2007 by Dan
I wrote my congressman today.
Dear Congressman Thompson,
The philosopher and poet George Santayana once wrote: “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
I write you today as an amateur historian and former history student at UC Davis to ask you to consider joining your colleague Congressman Waxman in co-sponsoring HR 1255, the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007. It is imperative for the sake of history that the records and papers of any and all presidents, not just this one, are safely preserved for posterity. It took an act of Congress in 1974 to protect the presidential records of Richard Nixon, and it appears history is already repeating itself. Steve Hensen, President of the Society of American Archivists wrote in 2001:
“Free and open access to information is the cornerstone to modern democratic societies around the world. For such access to be curtailed or abrogated by an executive process not subject to public or legislative review or scrutiny would violate the principles upon which our nation was founded—all the more troubling at a time when we should be holding the beacon of freedom higher than ever.”
I would also like to take the time to mention I have been duly impressed by the work you have been doing lately in Congress, and am very proud to have supported you in every election since I moved to your district almost a decade ago. Keep up the good work.
Your constituent,
Dan Fisher
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Agree? Disagree? Write your congressman too, or write a comment below.
Background: Nancy’s Blog - What started it all - So what, you ask? - More from the Wiki - Text of legislation - Current Cosponsors
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