Tea Party Cements Patriot Act Into Place

03-15-2011 • The New American

In light of recent extensions of the Patriot Act, it can be concluded that many Tea Partiers are reneging on parts of the Tea Party agenda. Of the 41 Tea Party-backed candidates, 31 voted to extend the Patriot Act, eight voted against it, and one did not vote. As John Tyner stated at Lewrockwell.com: "Despite the eight nea votes, Tea Party-backed candidates overwhelmingly backed an extension of the Patriot Act." It took Congress scarcely six weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to write, deliberate, and then overwhelmingly pass the Orwellian-named USA PATRIOT Act on October 26, 2001, and the Bill of Rights hasn’t been the same since. In its chilling summary of the law, Wikipedia noted The Act dramatically reduced restrictions on law enforcement agencies’ ability to search telephone, email communications, medical, financial and other records … expanded the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions … [and] expanded the definition of terrorism to inc