The Big Picture

In the wake of the stunning assault on the U.S. Capitol building on January 6th, it is inevitable that emotionally-charged reactions by Congress will ensue, as after any major crisis. In particular, there is concern that legislation may move early in this new Congress to try to expand the treatment of “domestic terrorism.” A justified desire to punish those who committed an unprecedented act of violence and vandalism must not lead to a contraction of the civil liberties of peaceful protestors or their right to political dissent.

FreedomWorks is proud to honor Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as our member of the month for September 2020. Senator Paul’s voting record has been 98 percent in alignment with FreedomWorks’ Congressional Scorecard over the ten years he has served as Kentucky’s junior U.S. Senator. During that time, he has consistently been a source and fearless champion of some of the best, limited-government legislation across a wide spectrum of issues.

FreedomWorks is proud to honor Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) as our member of the month for August 2020. Representing the corridor of Ohio along the Indiana border north of Cincinnati and west of Dayton and Columbus since 2016, Davidson’s predecessor in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District was none other than former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio). Unlike Boehner, Davidson has not only been a 100 percent vote on FreedomWorks’ scorecard for over 4 years, he has been out front leading on several fronts to protect our liberties from the government leviathan.

On March 15, the authority for Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act formally expired. This is one of the provisions that spawned the Edward Snowden leaks back in 2013 and drew the American people’s attention to the scope of abuses perpetrated by the intelligence community. Though some reforms have been made, many in Congress still stand by the program despite the revelations.

As both the federal and states’ governments wrestle with what policies to use in addressing the coronavirus outbreak moving into the summer and beyond, one potential solution that has been touted as a key component of getting life here back to something like normal is “contact tracing.” In particular, governments and tech companies alike have become interested in digital solutions to track the spread of the virus in order to better contain it. However, depending upon how it is done, there are a number of concerns with how contact tracing - whether done in person or digitally - interacts with our basic rights to due process and civil liberties.