Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Tea Party and civil liberties

by Glenn Greenwald from Salon

This constitutional lawyer is not as ecstatic over yesterday's vote which failed to extend three provisions of the Patriot Act as are many liberals in the US.
I'm ultimately quite pessimistic about its ability to produce any meaningful benefits in the near future.  That's because there are far too many impulses among ostensibly "limited government" conservatives which conflict with -- and ultimately negate -- any possibility for meaningful civil liberties defenses.
He provides a close examination and analysis of the vote in which liberals and Tea Party Republicans combined to defeat the extensions.