Patriot Act Gets Neutered

Well paint me pink and call me a cowboy. It seemed completely impossible but thanks to the internet the Patriot Act renewal story got legs, and HOLY SHIT! It worked! The “Tea Party” (which really started as a Libertarian element of the Ron Paul campaign but no one wants to talk about that anymore) Republicans who were recently elected joined with 122 democrats to reject a measure which would extend key portions of the Patriot Act. It was only 2 days ago that Dennis Kucinich challenged Tea Party Republicans to stand up for Civil Liberties. Kucinich stated “”The 112th Congress began with a historic reading of the U.S. Constitution, will anyone subscribe to the First and Fourth Amendments tomorrow when the PATRIOT Act is up for a vote? I am hopeful that members of the Tea Party who came to Congress to defend the Constitution will join me in challenging the reauthorization.” It seems the Tea Party has taken up the challenge and stood by their Libertarian ideals which they espoused during the election. This creates a very interesting political situation as the far left and the far right seem willing to compromise and work together on certain issues. At the same time we see bureaucracy, lies, and gridlock amongst both the moderate Republicans and Democrats. Rand Paul and other Tea Party Republicans have also talked tough when it came to gutting the Military Industrial Complex (which accounts for the majority of government spending and waste). Let’s hope the trend continues, but there certainly is some irony in the fact that the Tea Party (and the lefty democrats, such as Kucinich) have succeeded in working together while Obama has failed in trying to get moderates to work together.