Brett85
11-19-2014, 12:21 PM
http://www.americanbroadside.com/there-was-no-right-vote-on-the-usa-freedom-act/
The arguing over yesterdays vote on the USA Freedom Act is getting a little shrill. Articles are coming out accusing Rand Paul of betraying his principles by voting against restrictions on NSA Surveillance and Paul’s adherents are accusing Ted Cruz of being a turncoat for supporting an early extension of the USA PATRIOT Act for supporting the bill.
These look an awful lot like the opening shots of the presidential primary, but in the end this is all sound and fury, and it means very little. There wasn’t any ‘right’ vote on this bill. It was emasculated in committee and is really a sad commentary on the difficulty of getting a good bill to the floor intact.
The original USA Freedom Act as proposed in the House was pretty good, but in successive committees in the House and Senate the provisions were watered down and ultimately an extension of the USA PATRIOT Act was tacked on as well. If you supported it you thought that the surviving changes in procedures and accountability for the NSA were worth enough to risk and early renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act. If you voted against it you disagreed and were betting that in the next six months you can do something else to fix or stop the USA PATRIOT Act before it is due for renewal.
Rand Paul voted with Mitch McConnell and party leadership and against the recommendation of almost every civil liberties group. His vote buy us 6 months to come up with another solution before the USA PATRIOT Act is renewed next summer.
But Mike Lee and Ted Cruz voted the other way. Their vote was in agreement with the ACLU and the EFF and even Glenn Greenwald. They also voted against party leadership and against Mitch McConnell. Just about everyone except ardent Paul supporters thinks they voted the right way on this.
Campaign for Liberty and other groups supporting Paul are making out that he voted correctly and everyone else is wrong and a villain, but they have a vested interest. They pushed very heavily for a vote against the act and they have a big stake in Paul having made the right decision. They are slamming Ted Cruz for his vote, and who can blame them because their reputation is on the line and they have to defend their candidate.
If you read Patrick Leahy’s defense of the bill, it sounds like the greatest thing since sliced bread and the answer to all our surveillance problems, but he’s just putting lipstick on a pig because it’s his pig.
Both sides should be careful to not let this partisanship go to far. Despite their different votes and presidential ambitions, these factions need to work together in the next few months if something real is going to be done about the USA PATRIOT Act and issues like data gathering and warrantless surveillance, which really need to be dealt with.
There was no wrong vote and there was no right vote. The bill was defeated and now we have to work together to find another solution. Dragging out the recriminations just weakens us and gives the advantage to those who really don’t want limits placed on the security state.
The arguing over yesterdays vote on the USA Freedom Act is getting a little shrill. Articles are coming out accusing Rand Paul of betraying his principles by voting against restrictions on NSA Surveillance and Paul’s adherents are accusing Ted Cruz of being a turncoat for supporting an early extension of the USA PATRIOT Act for supporting the bill.
These look an awful lot like the opening shots of the presidential primary, but in the end this is all sound and fury, and it means very little. There wasn’t any ‘right’ vote on this bill. It was emasculated in committee and is really a sad commentary on the difficulty of getting a good bill to the floor intact.
The original USA Freedom Act as proposed in the House was pretty good, but in successive committees in the House and Senate the provisions were watered down and ultimately an extension of the USA PATRIOT Act was tacked on as well. If you supported it you thought that the surviving changes in procedures and accountability for the NSA were worth enough to risk and early renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act. If you voted against it you disagreed and were betting that in the next six months you can do something else to fix or stop the USA PATRIOT Act before it is due for renewal.
Rand Paul voted with Mitch McConnell and party leadership and against the recommendation of almost every civil liberties group. His vote buy us 6 months to come up with another solution before the USA PATRIOT Act is renewed next summer.
But Mike Lee and Ted Cruz voted the other way. Their vote was in agreement with the ACLU and the EFF and even Glenn Greenwald. They also voted against party leadership and against Mitch McConnell. Just about everyone except ardent Paul supporters thinks they voted the right way on this.
Campaign for Liberty and other groups supporting Paul are making out that he voted correctly and everyone else is wrong and a villain, but they have a vested interest. They pushed very heavily for a vote against the act and they have a big stake in Paul having made the right decision. They are slamming Ted Cruz for his vote, and who can blame them because their reputation is on the line and they have to defend their candidate.
If you read Patrick Leahy’s defense of the bill, it sounds like the greatest thing since sliced bread and the answer to all our surveillance problems, but he’s just putting lipstick on a pig because it’s his pig.
Both sides should be careful to not let this partisanship go to far. Despite their different votes and presidential ambitions, these factions need to work together in the next few months if something real is going to be done about the USA PATRIOT Act and issues like data gathering and warrantless surveillance, which really need to be dealt with.
There was no wrong vote and there was no right vote. The bill was defeated and now we have to work together to find another solution. Dragging out the recriminations just weakens us and gives the advantage to those who really don’t want limits placed on the security state.