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Empirical evidence notwithstanding, stupidity is not
a requirement for membership in the U.S. Congress. Also, stupid acts by
Congress do not have to be forever.
Witness the infamous freedom-busting, Orwellian piece
of legislative stupidity known as the Patriot Act. Passed by a panicked
Congress right after 9/11 and reauthorized by a cowed Congress in 2006,
this thing empowers the FBI to make wholesale secret invasions of the
American people’s privacy — grossly violating one of our
country’s core values.
As we’ve learned from investigative reports by
the bureau’s own inspector general, concerns about intrusive and
abusive actions by a bulked-up FBI were not theoretical. This national
police agency has been found guilty of “widespread and serious
misuse” of the Patriot Act’s most invasive provisions. For
example, the act opened up our private records to government agents,
enabling them to write their own authorizations for poking into our
personal business without having to show any reasonable cause for spying on
us. Hundreds of cases of the FBI’s sweeping up information it has no
authority to collect have now been documented.
Did no one foresee the stupidity of granting such
broad, unchecked power? Yes. U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold did, and he cast the
one courageous vote against the Patriot Act in 2001. Now Feingold is back
with S. 2088, a bill to rein in the FBI and restore the people’s
constitutional rights. As he puts it, we’ve learned the hard way that
“Trust us” doesn’t cut it when it comes to preventing
government snoops from abusing their power.
Congress has the responsibility to put appropriate
restraints on government authorities, and that’s what
Feingold’s National Security Reform Act does.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, columnist, and author.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, columnist, and author.
