Leaders in Washington are fighting direct threats to liberty: the NDAA, the Real ID act, and NSA programs.
In an interview with the DailyCaller.com, Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said, “I think it’s scary the direction the government is going, regardless of whether you have a Republican President or a Democratic President. We have an executive branch that is getting way too powerful, and President Obama is setting the stage for something very dangerous in the future.”
“I think as a Congress we have to step up and point out when the President is going beyond his constitutional powers, which is frequent, and we have got to do something about it and we haven’t done that as a Congress,” he said.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R – T.X.), echoed Amash’s concern when he released a statement regarding the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):
“I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act. I am deeply concerned that Congress still has not prohibited President Obama’s ability to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens arrested on American soil without trial or due process.”
“I hope that next year the Senate and the House can come together in a bipartisan way to recognize the importance of our constitutional rights even in the face of ongoing terrorist threats and national security challenges. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee toward this common goal.”
According to Joe Wolverton, II, J.D, the new version of the NDAA expands federal powers even further.
“The NDAA included provisions that purported to authorize the president of the United States to deploy the U.S. military to apprehend and indefinitely detain any person (including an American citizen) who he believes “represent[s] an enduring security threat to the United States,” said Wolverton.
The Real ID is a big concern, as well. Though some states have nullified the law, 21 states are already compliant, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Earlier this year, Sen. Rand Paul (R – K.Y.) spoke against a National ID.
“Forcing Americans to carry around an identification card to affirmatively prove citizenship offends our basic concept of freedom. Wanting to avoid a “papers, please” culture in our country is also why conservatives oppose federal universal gun background checks. We oppose such measures not because we don’t believe in common-sense rules or regulation — but because we are wary of giving the federal government this kind of centralized power over our daily lives,” said Paul.
Despite Paul’s protest, the Department of Homeland Security will begin enforcing REAL ID in 2014.
According to HStoday.com, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the enforcement of the REAL ID Act will begin in April, 2014. The enforcement will start in steps within restricted areas of DHS headquarters, followed by a phased approach with substantial enforcement in 2016.
Critics of Real ID compare the proposed “papers, please” culture to Nazi Germany. Scenes in movies like The Pianist and Schindler’s List show citizens forced to produce identity cards to authorities.
This week, Michael Morell, the former acting director of the CIA and a member of President Obama’s task force on surveillance, insisted that the NSA is not spying on Americans. Yet, he is now calling for the expansion of surveillance that targets emails.
“I would argue that what effectiveness we have seen to date is totally irrelevant to how effective it might be in the future,” he said. “This program, 215 (a section under the Patriot Act), has the ability to stop the next 9/11 and if you added emails in there it would make it even more effective. Had it been in place in 2000 and 2001, I think that probably 9/11 would not have happened.” Morell told the National Journal.
As reported by Benswann.com’s Michael Lotfi, a federal judge ruled that the National Security Agency’s (NSA) collection of information on all phone calls likely violates the Constitution.
President Obama, members of the Republican Party and unelected bureaucrats continue to usurp the rights of Americans, but Amash, Cruz and Paul continue to resist the abuse of federal powers.
This year Sen. Harry Reid (D – N.V.) called them “tea party anarchists” and Sen. John McCain (R – A.Z.) called them, “wacko birds,” but many Americans called them heroes because they fought for limited government and civil liberties. Leaders like Cruz and Paul are soaring in popularity and building a broad-based coalition, but will it be enough to correct the “dangerous path” Amash warns us about?