Senator Rand Paul f***ed us all on the immigration bill. The original Senate immigration bill is already enough to make anyone concerned about privacy and civil liberties vomit. It would create a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID. It would mandate all employers to look up every new hire in the database and verify that they match their photo. It therefore sets the precedent that you need permission from the government to work, and your activities can be restricted by failing to appear in the database. As the heir to Ron Paul’s political machine, Rand is supposed to be the staunchest defender of our civil liberties in the U.S. Senate, but as the immigration bill was debated and amended, all we heard from him on the subject was concerning border “SECURITY” Rand Paul could have, and should have, spoken out against the bill on civil liberties grounds. His father did, and if Rand had stood for liberty just like Ron, he could have peeled off support for the bill from Democrats trying to cover their civil libertarian flank. Rand Paul could have, and should have, spoken out against the bill on fiscal grounds. The bill spends $46 billion dollars on border security and is packed with special interest giveaways like a youth jobs program and a waiver for Alaska fishing workers. And if he opposed the spending in the bill, the entire Tea Party wing of the GOP, which he now basically leads, would have stood right beside him. Establishment Republicans would have opposed the bill anyway for lack of border security and the immigration bill would have died long ago. But since Rand Paul decided to focus on SECURITY, trying to appeal to xenophobic, old, white conservatives as he campaigns for 2016, there was NOBODY in the conversation calling for LIBERTY. And with the one person in the Senate who was supposed to be the voice of liberty, calling instead for security, what we got was a loss of our liberty in the name of security. We got the Corker-Hoeven amendment to the immigration bill that calls for 20,000 more border patrol agents, 700 miles of border fencing, surveillance drones, and infrared sensors. Lindsey Graham praised it for creating “an almost militarized border”. This amendment bought off 15 senate Republicans with a giveaway to the Military-Industrial complex. Democrats are still marching in lockstep behind it because they don’t give a shit about civil liberties. Police statists in the GOP get everything they wanted, and it now has enough votes to pass the Senate, with a good chance in the House as well. On immigration, Rand Paul committed the cardinal sin that Ben Franklin warned us about. He surrendered liberty for security.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 05:37:08 +0000
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