Late last week, knowing that the news would come out on a Friday, when few people pay attention to the news, the House of Representatives sneaked through a piece of legislation that the Democratic majority knew would be profoundly unpopular with its progressive base. So, the House Democrats went along with a Senate scheme to conceal the legislation as an amendment to a Medicare reform bill.
The legislation: An amendment to extend the most abusive parts of the Patriot Act – without any reforms at all. These unconstitutional spying practices are almost never used in relation to cases of suspected terrorism, and even when they are used, the chances aren’t good that they result in actionable information.
In short, the Patriot Act isn’t doing much to actually protect Americans from terrorism. What the Patriot Act is accomplishing is the creation of a Big Brother system of federal government spying against its own citizens, leading Americans to always suspect that even their most private activities are being watched.
Such a state of continual fear of government espionage is inherently incompatible with the survival of democracy. That’s why this bumper sticker rallies the American people to the defense of liberty – to repeal the Patriot Act. We don’t need Big Brother to spy on our private lives.
[...] If a nutty psychiatrist and a bumbling teenager are the best justification for the Patriot Act’s rampant abuse of our liberty that anyone can find, the last thing our Congress should be doing is to pass an extension of the Patriot Act. A rational Congress, not seeking to play political games with people’s fears, would instead vote to Repeal the Patriot Act. [...]