Deserve Liberty

A federal judge struck down part of the Patriot Act, calling it the "legislative equivalent of breaking and entering." Mainly he declared it unconstitutional because it ignored the separation of powers doctrine.

When will this administration realize (if they ever do) that we have 3 equal branches that are charged with governing this nation? At issue here were the National Security Letters the Patriot Act gave the FBI expanded power to send out. They are sent to Internet Service Providers and telephone companies to demand all records relating to someone the FBI has declared a terror suspect. They can demand all phone records and emails, not only of the suspect but of everyone the suspect has called or sent email to. There are no subpoena, no warrants, no judicial oversight of any kind. The FBI could send these with impunity. And according to a recent internal review the FBI violated privacy laws and its own rules more than 1,000 times in sending out these letters. They are drunk with power and now send out 50,000 a year.

You want to know the worst part? It is a crime to tell anybody you have received a National Security Letter! You can't go to the courts to dispute it because that in itself is a crime! (The plaintiff in this lawsuit was a John Doe.) The arrogance of these people. I'm all for fighting terror but I don't want to surrender all my freedoms and liberties in the name of perfect safety. Democracy is messy and not all attacks can be prevented in a free society, but that freedom is worth it.

As Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither."

Here is one article about it.