Patriot Games

Congress passed a four-year extension the Patriot Act yesterday, giving the government continued leeway into wiretapping phone lines and using more aggressive surveillance tactics in the name of combating terrorism. Its supporters insist the law will continue to keep us safe. But prominent members of the Senate, including the libertarian Rand Paul (R-KY) and the very liberal Patrick Leahy (D-VT), would have none of it. "We shouldn't be fearful. We shouldn't be fearful of freedom, we shouldn't be fearful of individual liberty," Paul said in opposition to a law he correctly believes impinges on individual freedoms.

Paul and Leahy were two of only 23 senators to oppose extending the Patriot Act until 2015. The House supported extending it 250-153.

Meanwhile, the House narrowly defeated a measure that would have sped up troop withdrawal in Afghanistan before 2014. The 215-204 was closer than anyone expected, encouraging better luck next time among opponents of the war . . . a war president Obama supports (just as he supports the Patriot Act extension). And even though American involvement in Iraq (a war Obama opposed as a state senator in Illinois) officially ends on December 31 of this year, many Iraqi leaders have been pondering the idea of asking us to stay into 2012. We should take Nancy Reagan's advice and just say no.