Rand Paul’s Filibuster is Libertarian Porn

As I type, Rand Paul has been filibustering John Brennan’s nomination as director of the CIA for six hours. And this is no silent filibuster. And not one where a Senator reads something. No, Rand Paul has been literally talking about civil liberties (with breaks when friends step in) for hours. It is straight-up libertarian porn. I had it on as I worked earlier. His ranting about due process and martial law was music to my afraid and oppressed ears. Drone strikes are freaking scary, y’all. And I’m pumped that someone in this whole damn world is willing to stand up and say, “Fuck, no!”

“Fuck, no” is Mr. Paul’s response to a letter he received this month from Attorney General Eric Holder. This letter said that the US government may perpetrate drone strikes on its own citizens on US soil. The letter limits drone strikes on civilians in their own country to “extraordinary circumstances” such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But Mr. Paul is enough a student of history to know how much that promise is worth and how much latitude that gives our commander in chief to end American lives without trial or due process. Lest we think Mr. Paul is overly cautious, let us not forget that we absolutely cannot trust the government to be transparent about who they kill and why. And without transparency, accountability does not exist.

The US government would not even admit to their program of drone strikes until months after it came out (despite coverup attempts) that the United States had murdered an innocent 16-year-old American citizen using a drone. The New York Times has Mr. Paul quoted as saying:

I will speak until I can no longer speak. I will speak as long as it takes, until the alarm is sounded from coast to coast that our Constitution is important, that your rights to trial by jury are precious, that no American should be killed by a drone on American soil without first being charged with a crime, without first being found to be guilty by a court.

When I first heard that the US government had assassinated an American citizen without due process, I thought it was made up. I thought it was a conspiracy theory. I would have never, ever imagined that it had come to that. That the war on terror had so paralyzed people with fear of the other that they would allow their own government to shoot them down and then LIE about it. But it has. This is where we are. And I cannot thank Mr. Paul enough for standing up and saying, “This is not okay.” Between this and that time he ranted for five solid minutes about incandescent light bulbs, with one minute devoted solely to bitching about low-flow toilets I’m really starting to like this guy from Kentucky.

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