The Patriot Act Fails!

So much for Speaker John Boehner's big gavel. So far he's not getting to use it so much. He failed to push through his abortion restrictions, and now he's failing again, on an old Republican favorite. Today, the House failed to get the 2/3 vote necessary to suspend the rules and pass the Patriot Act, coming up just short. The key part here is, it was only three key provisions, and it can be brought back up under majority rules later this month, which it would succeed in passing with the current votes. The parts in question are the surveillance ones.

I'm happy to see this development. I'm only sad to see that it will probably pass anyway. Kill the damn bill. The court system provides lots of ways for the government to constitutionally get warrants to see what they need. If it's not something a court would give a warrant for, I don't think the government needs the ability to see it from an American citizen. We have a constitution, let's follow it, not throw it out from a position of fear. Remember, those who would sacrifice liberty for security, deserve neither.