Re:Sen. Rand Paul says he's suing over NSA policies
by dllthomas on Saturday January 04, 2014 @05:21PM
(#7013229)
30 years of consistency, but also 30 years of not having much power. Power does change people. Whether it would have changed him enough to have mattered appreciably here, or whether other concerns would have dominated, who can say? I'd bet he would have been consistent on this point, but it's not a certainty.
Re:Sen. Rand Paul says he's suing over NSA policies
by natmaster on Saturday January 04, 2014 @08:51PM
(#7014068)
What is certain is power didn't change Obama - he's always been that way, and you need to pay attention to people's past before you put faith in them.
Re:Sen. Rand Paul says he's suing over NSA policies
by dllthomas on Tuesday January 07, 2014 @01:06AM
(#7015912)
What is entirely more likely is that power did change Obama, because he is human and that is (studies show) how humans tend to work. What is more up in the air is whether it changed his position on surveillance. It's possible that it did not - but note that a vote on the Patriot Act is not directly a vote on this stuff, and that he spoke against similar stuff in the past.
It's not about Repulican or Democrat, both parties have many evil people in them. It's about the person. Just one simple example is that Obama voted for renewal of the Patriot Act. This alone should have been enough to not be surprised by this.
And yes, if Ron Paul had been elected, this would not have happened. 30 years of consistency.