Last night, May 31, 2015, Republican Senator Rand Paul stood in the way of the U.S. Senate from renewing major sections of the poorly named Patriot Act. Initially, Paul was getting time blocked by Senators John McCain and Senator Dan Coats who were using fear-charged language to denigrate those who sought the federal government to be in compliance with the U.S. Constitution. Though it was a major step forward to the federal government respecting the rights of law-abiding Americans, in the overall scheme of things, it was a small dent. A welcomed dent for millions of supporters of freedom and the U.S. Constitution. As Libertarians have been saying since the Patriot Act was first enacted in 2001, parts of the Patriot Act were recently found to be unconstitutional because it causes every American to be treated as a suspect in a crime.
Yesterday’s session was political theater because establishment senators were already prepared to let those sections expire and be replaced with the USA Freedom Act. Paul stood in the way and shortly after 9:30 p.m., Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell introduced a few amendments to the USA Freedom Act and then the senate adjourned to debate those amendments this afternoon.
Karl Dickey 