FREEDOMWORKS 05/26/2015

Yesterday reminded us how much we need to remember the sacrifice of those who gave everything for our country's freedom. 1. Passionate Youth Stand with Rand to End Mass Surveillance - by Ashley Charles Yesterday, Senator Rand Paul proved yet again that he is dedicated to upholding the Constitution. For eleven hours, the Kentucky Senator claimed the senate floor to filibuster the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, which permits mass surveillance of American citizens. Warrantless spying and bulk data collection has been a massive infringement on our basic fourth amendment rights. Even 65% of American adults believe there are not adequate limits on the telephone and internet data that the government collects, according to a recent Pew poll. During the filibuster, CSPAN 2 reported twice as many viewers tuning in, in comparison to a typical Wednesday. FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe went out during the filibuster and smashed a cell phone with a hammer to express his frustration with spying on innocent civilians. Read more here... 2. Matt Kibbe's Response to the NSA - Phone Smash 3. Momentum is building in the Senate to get big government out of the courtroom - by Jason Pye Over the last several years, many states, particularly where Republicans are in control, have looked for ways to get smarter on how they approach corrections. These states, such as Texas and Georgia, have seen tremendous success, and others are taking notice. Congress, however, has been slow to act on justice reform, even as the costs to taxpayers continues to grow due to the bad policies of the past. One of the worst policies Congress has implemented is mandatory minimum sentences. This policy is little more than big government in the courtroom. It entraps many nonviolent offenders in federal prisons, leading to an unnecessarily inflated number of inmates, and rips families and entire communities apart. Federal mandatory minimum sentences also cost taxpayers billions of dollars, which is why the U.S. Sentencing Commission has urged Congress to expand the "safety valve" exception to include more low-level, nonviolent offenders with little or no criminal history. Read more here... 4. Chris Christie's Position on Spying Is "Ridiculous." - by Logan Albright Gov. Chris Christie has never been a particularly distinguished champion of freedom, but his recent comments and outright defense of the NSA’s illegal spying program was eyebrow raising even for him. In a speech delivered Monday, Christie said: "all these fears are exaggerated and ridiculous. When it comes to fighting terrorism our government is not the enemy, and we should not be listening to people like Edward Snowden." Now, reasonable people can disagree about whether Snowden’s actions were appropriate, but there is no doubt that the information he revealed was important, and shocking to anyone who cares about the privacy of innocent people, or indeed about the Constitution. Despite the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the NSA’s metadata collection program is not authorized, the agency has been using Section 215 of the Patriot Act as justification for sweeping up vast quantities of telephone data from people not accused, or even suspected of any wrongdoing. Without specific warrants, this is a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans against unreasonable search and seizure. Read more here... 5. Alternative to Obamacare - Cost Sharing Ministries - by Ted Abram In 1991, Pope John Paul II wrote in the Centesimus Annus that the Welfare State contradicts the principle of subsidiarity by usurping and relieving society of its responsibility to their neighbors and community. This “leads to a loss of human energies and an inordinate increase of public agencies which are dominated more by bureaucratic ways of thinking than by concern for serving their clients and which are accompanied by an enormous increase in spending.” People participating in health-care-cost-sharing groups were exempted from ObamaCare. So, members were not mandated to buy ObamaCare’s prescribed insurance, and in the state of Washington there are approximately 10,000 people participating in a health-care-cost-sharing group. Nationwide, there are close to 400,000 participants. Read more here... Make freedom work, Iris Somberg Press Secretary, FreedomWorks