Stopped Clocks, Twice A Day, Etc

Bob Barr writes a great column on Huffington Post (stop and savor that for a moment) on the PATRIDIOT Act and the Fourth Amendment. I've never liked Bob Barr, and while this won't start me in that direction, it at least gives me a glimmer of respect for him.

I think it is high time to reconsider some of the provisions of the Patriot Act that give law enforcement officials too much secret search power and access to our personal records, without any evidence of a crime or even specific facts connecting the records sought to a foreign government or terrorist organization.

Now Congress and the administration want to expand the Patriot Act so they can get at our medical, library or gun purchase records (among many, many other things) without getting a judge's sign-off first. Are they serious? Giving the FBI this kind of carte blanche fishing–expedition power, and making this a permanent part of our law no matter who is in the White House is not just wrong, it's foolish. And it certainly isn't conservative.

The Patriot Act needs some common sense fixes to keep our liberty safe. Our Founding Fathers would want us to courageously defend our country and the Constitution. This is their legacy of liberty. We should rise to the challenge and preserve it rather than make a false sacrifice for extreme powers that don't make us safer but actually make us less free.