History is filled with pitfalls and terrible occurrences. For most of human history, the early world consisted of nothing but war, theft, slavery, and obedience to a state which ruled through fear. While those of us living in the US live so comfortably, that not even kings from a different era could compare to even our lowest standard of living, there are many people throughout the world that still live in an environment where something is absent- liberty.
The weekend of February 13th-15th, FreedomWorks sponsored the 8th annual International Students for Liberty Conference, a gathering of more than one thousand students from all over the world and across America for the purpose of exploring the ideas of liberty. The International Students for Liberty Conference, held in Washington each year around Valentine's Day, hosts many prominent leaders in the libertarian movement for speeches, question and answer sessions, and breakout sessions on a variety of topics pertaining to liberty in the world today.
FreedomWorks, Rand Paul, and Ken Cuccinelli have filed a class action lawsuit against President Obama and a host of other people involved in the National Security Agency (NSA) domestic spying program. “FreedomWorks is participating in this suit on behalf of our community of 6 million citizens nationwide, along with any American who has a phone,” FreedomWorks President Kibbe said at the press conference. “If you use a phone, you should care about this case.”
The NSA is out of control. Recent leaks have revealed that the U.S. government is spying on all of us. This is a direct violation of our 4th amendment right against unreasonable government searches. Government officials are reading our emails, looking through our Internet search history, and listening in on our phone calls *without* a warrant.
Yesterday afternoon a bold, potentially groundbreaking amendment to a defense appropriations bill was narrowly defeated. The amendment sponsored by Representative Justin Amash sought to curtail the highly criticized NSA surveillance program.
Monday was a bad day for the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in Maryland v. King, by a vote of 5-4, that it is constitutional for police to take DNA swabs of felony arrestees--who have not yet been convicted of anything--without a warrant. Yikes. All freedom lovers should be disappointed in the SCOTUS’ wrong decision: it’s a violation of our individual liberty and just downright creepy.