National Politics Thu Sep 24 2009
Thursday Watch Party: USA PATRIOT Act: 6% terrorism, 65% drugs
Russ Feingold (D-WI), the US Senator who will be hailed as a profile in courage for his lone vote against the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, drops a bombshell: the USA PATRIOT Act, surprise surprise, is being used for something other than what it was intended for.
Wait a second, the Bush administration used the national tragedy of September 11th as an excuse for a federal power grab? A massive expansion of federal power that really had nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with accruing more power to the executive? Exactly as conservative presidents have done since John Adams' Alien and Sedition Acts? You mean conservatism doesn't really mean "less government" it just means "protect the status quo"?
Libertarians opposed it. Conservatives loved it--still love it. Talk of repealing it was anathema during the Presidential election because it would be construed as "weak". See, because libertarians actually oppose the coercive power of the state; conservatives only oppose coercive power of the state over personal property--or the coercive power of the state when it's not their guy.
Watch Feingold:
Then note that the streets called it first. Here's Self-Scientific:
They Accepted The Patriot Act To Stop Terror, When We The Only Targets For Those Weapons/Meanwhile The City Is As Hot As It's Ever Been
Here's Rhymefest:
Dime bag-ass n*s ain't large/When the Patriot Act come hit they ass with the terrorist charge/And we, is what they made it for/You think it's all about Arabs? It's a war on the poor, we gotta go
