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Senator Rand Paul, filibustering today (watch it live here) until the President will disavow assassinating Americans on U.S. soil.
Note: This quote was transcribed live and may not be 100% accurate.
(via hipsterlibertarian)
I’ve given Rand Paul a hard time on some of his soft stances before, but he certainly has the proper stance now.
More quotes from Paul’s filibuster, which is still ongoing and has continued for over six hours, as compiled and transcribed by hipsterlibertarian:
- “We now see a president who was worried about wiretaps not worried about killing Americans on American soil without due process.”
- “As much as Obama talks about rejecting perpetual war, he’s providing and institutionalizing a blueprint for it.”
- “I think it’s safe to say that Barack Obama from 2007 would be right here with me arguing against this drone strike program…Were there a Republican President now, I would have the same instinct and same resolution to carry this forward. And on the issue of war, it’s the same — regardless of the President.”
- “[The Fifth Amendment is] pretty explicit. The Fifth Amendment protects you. It protects you from a king placing you in a tower — but it also should protect you from a President with a drone.”
- “[The Fifth Amendment] is pretty clear and it’s pretty plain. It says you can’t deprive people of their life and liberty without due process. So it should trouble every American…It’s not good enough for the President to say, ‘I don’t intend to [assassinate Americans] unless it’s convenient.’”
- “Montesquieu said there can be no liberty when you combine the executive and the legislature. I want to say something similar: There can be no liberty when you combine the executive and the judiciary. We’re allowing the president to be the accuser in secret, and we’re allowing him to be the judge, and we’re allowing him to be the jury. No man should have that power.”
- “What if you lived in a neighborhood with a suspected terrorist? What if you happened to go to dinner with a guy you didn’t know, or a women you didn’t know, and the CIA suspected them? Does that make you a combatant?”
- “Should we live in a country where you have to be worried about what you say [because you might be assassinated for it]? Should we live in a country where you have to be worried about what you write? What kind of country would that be? Why is there not more moral outrage?”
- “Are we so frightened that we’re going to give up on our Bill of Rights? Are we going to round up people who have a different color skin because they might have a cousin in Lebanon?”
(via laliberty)