Bob Barr Promises to Create White House Position to Defend Privacy and Civil Liberties

ATLANTA, GA -- Most Americans enjoyed the lazy days of summer as we celebrated another July 4th, but the day means so much more. “Without the Declaration of Independence, signed on that day in 1776, there would have been no America,” notes Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr.

Our nation has grown much since then, but the wisdom of the nation’s Founders lives on. “Although America has achieved much, the principles of our nation’s founding have proved to be constantly at risk,” warns Barr.

With the Bush administration’s broad assault on civil liberties, “current events continue to prove Thomas Jefferson’s admonition that ‘the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground’,” observes Barr. “Even the founding generation of Americans was quick to pass laws against political opponents, and now lawmakers in both parties are ever-ready to sacrifice the people’s liberties for their personal ambitions.”

A new president, with “a commitment to privacy and civil liberties not evident in either John McCain or Barack Obama, is essential, but not enough,” Barr explains. Threats to our freedom bubble up from the federal bureaucracy every day, while “congressmen slip dangerous provisions into even innocent-sounding legislation.”

Thus, as president I would establish in the Executive Office of the President “a new office tasked with tracking and reviewing legislative and regulatory threats to privacy and civil liberties. Just as the Office of Management and Budget oversees federal spending and regulation, this new Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties would monitor executive branch activities and legislative proposals for their impact on the freedom of Americans,” Barr says.

“July 4 has become just another fun summer day for many Americans, but we cannot afford to be so complacent about our freedoms,” warns Barr. If we do nothing, “government will further expand and more of our liberties will be lost. The next president must stop this constant erosion of our freedom.”

Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, where he served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee on Financial Services. Prior to his congressional career, Barr was appointed by President Reagan to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and also served as an official with the CIA.

Since leaving Congress, Barr has been practicing law and has teamed up with groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the American Conservative Union to actively advocate every American citizens’ right to privacy and other civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Along with this, Bob is committed to helping elect leaders who will strive for smaller government, lower taxes and abundant individual freedom.