At midnight, the Patriot Act provision, which granted the NSA permission to bulk-collect private phone metadata of law abiding American citizens, expired.
Law abiding citizens.
Presumption of guilt. Probable cause. Sound familiar?
When was the last time you can remember Congress doing something, actively or passively, to reduce the scope, size, and power of the Federal government, or to promote the individual liberties of Americans?
Can you name a member of Congress (House or Senate), who consistently championed these notions?
Can you name one who succeeded?
Senator Rand Paul is now the last politician I can name who consistently advocated for OUR individual liberty and found a way to successfully limit the scope, size, and power of the Federal Government. He walks the walk and he got it done last night.
Put aside, for just one moment, which candidate you support in the Republican Presidential field. Hell, put aside your animosity even if you support a Democrat. Today, we can embrace the fact that our 4th Amendment got a shot in the arm. This is so very important, my fellow Americans, because this amendment was on death’s door. Full life support. This is not a partisan issue – or at least is should not be.
It is worth mentioning that Senator Paul received more fire on this issue from Republicans, than from any other group. In fact, he was supported along the way by a number of Democrats. Are John McCain and Lindsey Graham so rooted in the fiefdoms of their Senate seats, that they no longer see the wrong and the risk that envelops Americans by this pervasive and illegal data collection? Have they forgotten why the authors of the Bill of Rights, subject to similar levels of oppression, felt it necessary to highlight the concepts of “unreasonable searches and seizures”, “probable cause”, and legal warrants? Do they realize that, by voting for these provisions of the Patriot Act, much less extending them, they violated their oaths of office, which they took each time they were (re-re-re-re)-elected to office or put on the uniform?
And let’s not forget the baron of the establishment GOP, John Sununu, who foolishly tried to downplay Rand Paul’s principles, declaring that any Republican, “except Rand Paul”, would make a better President than Hillary Clinton. To be honest, this was as fine an endorsement for Paul as anyone could have given.
My wish today would be to see Sununu take a step back from his statement, seeing the mix of hypocrisy, ignorance, and gross malfeasance in his words. Failing that (which is guaranteed), I would wish him to be stood face-to-face with the ghosts of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, to make a flubbered, “Newman-esqe” attempt at explaining what he really meant when he said that. I would pay any amount of money to see him explain, to this pantheon of American politics and government, why (as White House Chief of Staff) he misused public trust and funds to take ski and golf trips, go to the dentist, conduct fund raisers, or attend stamp collection auctions for personal gain. I would also love to hear him explain why, if in fact these acts were justified in the name of “national security”, his boss, the President of the United States, requested that he resign his post, sending him back home to New Hampshire, in complete disgrace.
Madison would likely slap Sununu. Jefferson would probably shake his head and turn his back, in silence, hiding the tears of sorrow he could not force back.
Our country is upside down. Wrong is right, bad is good, and moral relativism is a virus that has extended into every facet of government and society.
But, just for today, we actually have something to cheer about regarding our individual liberties. There is some hope that, maybe, perhaps, Senator Paul’s brush-fire will turn wild, helping to burn away that virus (and the homesteaders who feed it), re-instituting an atmosphere of reverence and celebration of our unique Constitution and the natural rights it was written to protect.
