Having Rand Paul, At Least

REPUBLICAN LIBERTARIAN SENATOR RAND PAUL fruitlessly and futilely spent eleven hours talking his head off on the floor of the U.S. Senate, trying to stop the renewal of The patriot Act, God bless him. Rand might as well have done his best Jimmy Stewart impersonation. Thus he shoots ahead of Jeb as my favorite republican running for president, though he's gotta lotta catchin' up to do with Hillary and the great Bernie Sanders. We the American people do not want the Patriot Act, we just don't know it. We're mindnumbed with fear, or something. Rand is trying to tell us that in a government as big as the American government, a bureaucrat with bad intentions could use the spying system for evil purposes, as you can imagine. I've heard perfectly intelligent well intentioned American citizens say that since they personally have nothing to hide, they don't mind the government listening to every phone call they make, as long as it keeps the country safe from terrorism. I want to tell them that this completely misses the point. He who would trade a bit of liberty for a bit of security deserves neither, don't you remember? In most futuristic dystopian big brother science fiction novels, such as Brave New World and 1984, the masses generally do not mind being owned and controlled by big brother, as long as they are warm and safe. And so it seems to be with us now. When Edward Snowden heroically revealed to the American people the extent of their helpless subservience, we the American people should have instantly risen up in a fit of outrage and put a stop to it, and reclaimed our liberties, out in the streets, violently, if necessary. Like Jefferson said, the tree of liberty must sometimes be nourished with blood. Instead, we demur like sheep, because we are warm, safe litlle sheepish beings. But at least we have Rand Paul, in there fighting for us, albeit hopelessly.