The Patriot Act is set to expire on June 1st of this year. Congress is working overtime to renew it with a bill that would do just that. Now Rand Paul is determined to make sure that does not actually come to pass.
John Iadarola (Think Tank) and Ben Mankiewicz (What The Flick) discuss the details of the story. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/rand-pauls-timely-takedown-of-the-patriot-act.html?_r=0
“He may have annoyed Senate colleagues by seizing the floor for a marathon monologue on Wednesday, but Senator Rand Paul did Americans a singular service by forcing attention to the fact that their civil liberties remain at stake as Congress drifts toward a renewal of the Patriot Act that is likely to do too little to rein in government surveillance programs.
“Are you really willing to give up your liberty for security?” Senator Paul asked in his unexpected, 10-and-a-half-hour quasi-filibuster.
The Kentucky lawmaker candidly linked his floor speech to his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, where he is determined to make more of a public issue of government intrusion into the private lives of Americans after the 9/11 attacks. This is to be welcomed, particularly since so many of his rivals prefer to slide off the issue by endorsing a compromised and faulty renewal of the Patriot Act as it expires on June 1.
“I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts, go unchallenged,” Mr. Paul declared. He conceded he might not have the votes to prevail, but said he would keep reminding the public of abuses like the government’s secret phone-data sweeps of American households that were finally declared illegal this month in federal court.”
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Comments
How many times will lefties let themselves be conned by Rand Paul? His first semi-filibuster turned out to be a con job when he voted against everything he spoke for. It was nothing but political gamesmanship, jockeying for power within his party, and he’ll sell out what he claims are his principles in order to get it. Aside from being insane (economic libertarians believe things are true which have never, can never, and will never be true), he’s a demonstrable self-serving hypocrite. He is certainly an insane economic libertarian, but his votes prove that he is not a civil libertarian. Progressives should not trust him on any matter.