The Fourth Means Even Less Now

The US Senate voted to erode, yet again, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The Democrats, in particular, are so afraid of the names they'll be called by their opponents next year, that they lack the courage to stand up to this power-hungry, law-breaking, unconstitutional monarchy of a government. They sicken me. (Via Raw Story.) "White House deputy spokesman Tony Fratto said the bill would give US spy agencies the tools they needed to fight terrorism." They don't get it! Under our constitutional system of government, they are not entitled to get that they feel they "need", they are entitled to get what will not violate the constitutional rights of the citizens of the United States. And if that means they can't have the best possible toys to spy on us, so be it! Find a way to do it within the law and the constitution, or move to another country. Like Paraguay.

If you are among the people who believe that the government (particularly one run by an administration with a solid and verifiable reputation for not abiding by the law) should be allowed to do "whatever it takes", even if it is unconstitutional, to fight whoever they say are your enemies, how long before you start seeing your friends, or people you would never have suspected of being involved with terrorists, start having their lives ruined by the government, and sometimes over a mistake? How would you like to find out the hard way that the charity to which you've been giving hundreds of dollars or more over many years also uses a small percentage of it to support groups that use violence? Under the rules they want to impose, a check from you would be enough to have your citizenship stripped away from you. (And they wouldn't have to actually convict anyone of using that money for terrorist or violent purposes, either.) I said that was under the rules they want to have; I don't believe they've gotten there yet. I hope.

Please don't take this as coming fromt he wrong place. Yes, I'm a Liberal, and the Liberal in me is opposed to everything about this president's neo-conservatism. But this is coming from the Libertarian in me, who fears having even a Democrat in the White House with these powers. This is not a Liberal/Conservative issue, it is a Libertarian/Authoritarian issue. And I know that there are a lot more of you who are like me on this than there are who are like them. Call your Representatives right away and tell them you don't want to give up any of your rights just because the neo-cons have frightened everyone through their poor management of the government with which they were entrusted. The US Senate, sadly, has already fallen tothe enemy.