Wednesday afternoon at 1:18 PM Eastern time Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) got up and started talking. Then he talked, and talked, and talked, and talked some more. Paul went on for about 11 hours straight. He had had help here and there but majority of the talking was done by Paul.
What was he talking about for 11 hours you ask? Well Paul wanted to convince the Senate to not renew the Patriot Act. Senate will come to a decision on June 1, and Rand Paul wants to make sure that there isn’t a Patriot Act.
Paul said, “There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer. That time is now.” He also asked the Senate, “Are you really willing to give up your liberty for security?”
Giving the members of the Senate something to think about. Paul wasn’t alone for the whole thing. After speaking for two and a half hours Paul got help from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). They asked each other questions, very very very long questions.
From the Washington Post’s report, “Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) took to the floor, as did Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.). Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) joined Paul later in the evening. And four additional Democrats gave Paul a hand later Wednesday night: Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Christopher A. Coons (Del.) and Jon Tester (Mont.).”
Afterwards Paul said that “It was kind of nice to have bipartisan support. I think really there’s unanimity among a lot of us that the bulk collection ought to end.”
What helped was that he had support from both parties since they all wanted the NSA to stop spying on the American people. Imagine what could happen if they worked together more.
What Paul mainly spoke about was the bulk collection policies in the Patriot Act. Paul says that he doesn’t think the American people want a government that infringes on their liberties, like privacy. He was also very vocal on his support of the fourth amendment.
He also spoke about how the NSA is essentially looking for a needle in the haystack, but the haystack is the American people.
Paul would only stop speaking during the times those who were helping him would be asking questions, which thankfully took about 30 minutes for them to ask the question.
Paul also changed his shoes during his filibuster to comfy sneakers, and would have a candy here and there to keep his blood sugar up. At around midnight Paul stopped talking. Tired, and his feet were killing him.
Photo: RushHourDaily/Joel Page
