Author Topic: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'  (Read 1587 times)

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Offline Rapunzel

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Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« on: November 20, 2013, 09:28:27 pm »
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/11/20/Exclusive-Rand-surveillance

Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'

by Ben Shapiro 20 Nov 2013, 12:28 PM PDT

On Wednesday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) released a video to Breitbart News exclusively in which he argued that the surveillance state under President Obama had grown beyond any reasonable proportions. “We were once outraged and dismayed and spurred to resist when British soldiers came knocking at our door with illegitimate warrants seeking taxes on our papers. Today,” Paul continued, “your government responds that there is no expectation of privacy once you consign your records to a third party. Your government applies that the Fourth Amendment applies not at all to your bank records, your Visa bill, your internet searches or purchases or emails. If not resistance, shouldn’t there at least be outrage?”

Paul said, “Imagine for a moment what information could be gathered from your Visa bill,” mentioning health information, political information, and personal information. “Are we so afraid of terrorists that we are willing to give up the very freedoms that separate us from them?” Paul asked.

He mentioned pro-surveillance senators who argued that Americans were not being spied upon, showing a picture of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). “The surveillance state was made to disappear through the legerdemain of defining it out of existence,” Paul stated.

Citing The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera, Paul explained, “Kundera captures the heart of the debate: the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting…against allowing the state to define away its usurpations. Will we allow defenders of the surveillance state to airbrush history and define away the notion of spying? Will we sit idly by as our expectation of freedom is defined downward?”

He added, “Will we be sunshine patriots, or will we stand up like free men and women and say, ‘Enough is enough, we want our freedoms back’?”


video at link
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Liberal_Spy

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2013, 09:32:21 pm »
I'm ready to stand up to tyranny just as soon as the rest of you are.

Offline Cincinnatus

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2013, 09:46:31 pm »
Huh? I'm ready to stand up to tyranny just as soon as the rest of you are.
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams

Liberal_Spy

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2013, 09:49:49 pm »
Huh? I'm ready to stand up to tyranny just as soon as the rest of you are.

Rand Paul was going on about the misdeeds of our government. I was simply stating that I am willing to stand up and try to do something about it, but I can't do it alone.

Offline Cincinnatus

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2013, 10:02:07 pm »
I was simply stating that I am willing to stand up and try to do something about it, but I can't do it alone

Dandy, but that leads me to ask you: do you actually read the opinions and comments posted by others on this site?
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams

Liberal_Spy

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2013, 10:05:51 pm »


Dandy, but that leads me to ask you: do you actually read the opinions and comments posted by others on this site?

Apparently I don't; what are you getting at?

Online DCPatriot

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2013, 10:10:28 pm »
The ONLY way the Progressive left can be defeated is that they fear Conservatives like they fear Islamic jihadists and suicide bombers.

Period.
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

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Offline truth_seeker

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2013, 11:01:36 pm »
I'm ready to stand up to tyranny just as soon as the rest of you are.
Are you ready to become a libertarian-conservative voter, then?

Are you ready to listen to Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams on how Personal Freedom ties into Economic Freedom?

"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

Online DCPatriot

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2013, 11:06:10 pm »
Are you ready to become a libertarian-conservative voter, then?

Are you ready to listen to Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams on how Personal Freedom ties into Economic Freedom?

Excellent question, TS. 
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald

Liberal_Spy

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2013, 12:04:41 am »
Are you ready to become a libertarian-conservative voter, then?


I don't think Republican votes are doing any more good than Democrat votes. I think you're all voting for one monster with two faces.

Offline Cincinnatus

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #10 on: November 21, 2013, 12:27:27 am »
A non sequitur no matter which question is considered: I don't think Republican votes are doing any more good than Democrat votes. I think you're all voting for one monster with two faces.

You were not asked about Republicans. You were asked two simple questions:

(1) Are you ready to become a libertarian-conservative [not a Republican] voter, then?

(2) Are you ready to listen to Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams on how Personal Freedom ties into Economic Freedom?

No one is more critical of the Republicans than are the libertarian-conservative posters on here.

You have been accused in the past of avoiding questions you find difficult or challenging. Is this part of that pattern?
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams

Offline truth_seeker

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #11 on: November 21, 2013, 02:07:48 am »
I don't think Republican votes are doing any more good than Democrat votes. I think you're all voting for one monster with two faces.
Since you are at the graduate school level of study, you ought to educate yourself about the history of political philosophy. Below is some input on "classical liberalism" which would coincide with todays' use of the label "libertarian-conservative."

A classic "liberal" used to value personal freedom above all. Political party names in Europe today follow more closely to that labeling, than in the US where "liberal" really means progressive, socialist today.

on classic liberalism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism

and on Edmund Burke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke

 
« Last Edit: November 21, 2013, 02:29:24 am by truth_seeker »
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Offline Fishrrman

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #12 on: November 21, 2013, 02:27:34 am »
Said Rand Paul:
[[ “Will we be sunshine patriots, or will we stand up like free men and women and say, ‘Enough is enough, we want our freedoms back’?” ]]

Well, Rand, would you support something like this:
=============================================
Citizens protected by this Constitution possess an inalienable right to privacy in their persons, business, and homes, and while they are in public.

It shall be a violation of this Constitution for the United States or for the several States to violate or invade the individual privacy of citizens by use of physical, mechanical, or electronic means or by the use of devices on land, on water, below the ground, or from the air.

This protection shall extend to all lawful communications and acts by an individual citizen or between two or more citizens, including content that is spoken, written, or electronically transmitted. It shall extend to citizens regardless of their location, whether in private or in public.

The only exceptions will be as governed by the Fourth Amendment of this Constitution.
=============================================

Just four short paragraphs that anyone can understand.

If you (and we) "want our freedoms back", we must put language into our Constitution that TAKES them back from the government.

The proposed amendment above would be the first step...

Liberal_Spy

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #13 on: November 21, 2013, 04:33:23 pm »
(1) Are you ready to become a libertarian-conservative [not a Republican] voter, then?

I have different views and different opinions on how the world works/should work. I am not ready to become a libertarian conservative because many of my values are strongly rooted in liberalism.

(2) Are you ready to listen to Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams on how Personal Freedom ties into Economic Freedom?

I will listen to what anybody has to say. I don't exactly have time to read every book that is suggested to me here, but by no means am I trying to shut out information. I am interested in all ideas and points of view.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2013, 04:34:14 pm by Liberal_Spy »

Offline Lipstick on a Hillary

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #14 on: November 21, 2013, 04:36:31 pm »
I'm ready to stand up to tyranny just as soon as the rest of you are.

I'm betting your definition of "tyranny" is quite different than many others' here. 

Liberal_Spy

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #15 on: November 21, 2013, 04:40:06 pm »
I'm betting your definition of "tyranny" is quite different than many others' here.

You think tyranny comes almost exclusively from the left wing, and I think it comes from both. Different, but not incredibly so.

Offline Bigun

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Re: Exclusive - Rand Paul: 'We Want Our Freedoms Back'
« Reply #16 on: November 21, 2013, 04:47:03 pm »
You think tyranny comes almost exclusively from the left wing, and I think it comes from both. Different, but not incredibly so.

Tyranny comes from anyone or any group that does not understand, or fails to recognize, the fact that personal liberty and individual responsibility are inextricably linked together! You cannot have one without the other!

If you promote the idea that no one is responsible for what happens to them you are, in truth, selling the idea that they should not be free and independent!
 
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"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
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