Rand Paul: Freedom Crusader

Rand Paul is challenging the NSA with a class action lawsuit.  It's about time someone is making a constitutional challenge to this bloated government intruding in our lives.  We are protected against unreasonable search and seizure here in the United States by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.  Here is this succinct yet powerful amendment:

• The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The National Security Agency has, of course, been seizing and storing our telephone and Internet browsing records in case they decide they are needed at a later date.  This is particularly concerning.  Can these folks be trusted to be good stewards of our information?  Our government hasn't proven to be trustworthy of late.  According to the Fourth Amendment, we don't have to trust the government do the right thing.  In fact, our stuff is off limits unless they get a warrant after law enforcement shows probable cause that a crime was committed.

Do you think it would be alright for the police to search every house in a neighborhood because they think a robber might live in the area or, more to the point, they think there are a lot of robbers living in that neighborhood?  Most of us don't want the government snooping around in our stuff.  What if the government snooping showed that I write this blog?  They might decide to hassle me for messing with the MessAPolitico.  They might send the IRS to my house to audit my tax returns for the last few years.  Then, I would have to gather my receipts and spend a lot of time defending myself against this powerful government entity because of my political beliefs.  You can't go to a judge for a search warrant using evidence you expect to get during the search.

The MessAPolitico needs to stop wasting time monitoring every move of tens of millions of regular Americans, and concentrate on those people where they can demonstrate probably cause to justify the action.  Why waste so much energy, time, and money on this "shotgun" approach to national security?  It makes so much more sense to concentrate the efforts with more of a "rifle shot" technique where they start with a person that is likely to have committed a crime.  If they have the evidence to show the probable cause, then and only then should they track their telephone and Internet records.  This will likely reveal associates and websites that cater to associates of this criminal.  Then, the web of associations can be evaluated and investigated.

Thank you for fighting the MessAPolitico Senator Paul.  Hopefully, this is just a preview of a stream of lawsuits that fight the President as he legislates from the oval office through his executive agencies and their regulations.