Lawrence resident Dinah Lovitch thinks the 100 members of the U.S. Senate should each do a book report before they finish debating “Patriot Act II,” a proposed law that promises to be as troubling to civil libertarians as its predecessor.

The book: George Orwell’s “1984,” the classic that warned of Big Brother, double talk as the official language and a police state constantly at or on the brink of war.

“If you lose your money, you can make do, but if you lose your freedoms, you can’t get them back,” said Lovitch, a biological researcher at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a Lawrence resident since 1972.

Lovitch described herself as a regular voter but political bystander until Congress passed the U.S.A. Patriot Act after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Supporters of the law said it provided law enforcement necessary tools to pursue terrorists, but civil libertarians — Lovitch included — said it eroded basic American rights and freedoms.

Now the U.S. Justice Department is set to unveil the second wave of expanded law enforcement powers under what is being called Patriot Act II.

“I was getting very frightened,” Lovitch said. “I thought, ‘What could I do as one person?'”

Then she got the idea to send each senator a copy of Orwell’s book about a nightmarish totalitarian world where newspeak and doublethink had created the slogans: war is peace, ignorance is strength and freedom is slavery.

Lovitch read the book as a youth and then read it again recently.

“There are certain parts that are resonating with what is happening now,” she said.

With each copy, she inserted a cover letter stating her belief that constitutional rights are under attack by the government.

Concerned about the loss of civil liberties in the midst of the war on terrorism, Dinah Lovitch, Lawrence, has sent copies of the George Orwell novel 1984 and a letter detailing her concerns to each U.S. senator.

She cited as examples increased police power in arresting and holding people without charges, and expansion of rules allowing law enforcement officials to snoop in people’s private lives.

She bought the paperback copies at The Raven Bookstore on East Seventh Street. U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has agreed to use his staff to disburse them to the 99 other senators.

Roberts, who is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says his involvement is a favor to a constituent and not an endorsement of Lovitch’s views, spokeswoman Sarah Ross said.

Roberts’ office received the books Thursday and started to pass them out Friday.

¢ About 1984

Roberts voted for the U.S.A. Patriot Act, but believes that people who are concerned about its reach “have valid concerns,” Ross said.

She said Roberts could not comment on the next Patriot Act proposal because it had not yet been introduced.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., also voted for the U.S.A. Patriot Act. Asked if he thought the law was too much, Brownback issued the following statement:

“This law, which passed the Senate by a vote of 96-1, helps us more effectively fight the war on terrorism. I am concerned about the possibility of imposing on individuals’ right to privacy, and the law contains appropriate safeguards to protect the civil liberties of innocent visitors and citizens.”