When it comes to law enforcement and privacy: just follow the damn Constitution.

– Rep. Ted Lieu

I had never heard of Rep. Ted Lieu before a reader sent me an article highlighting his impassioned and intelligent statement in opposition to unconstitutional NSA surveillance. Mr. Lieu is a freshman member of Congress from California’s 33rd district, was born in Taiwan, and not only does he hold a computer science degree, but he is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserves.

In other words, he isn’t just another shifty lawyer trying to suck as much money as possible out of the system while pretending to play politician. This is what he had to say to Daniel Conley, the statist (or possibly merely clueless) district attorney from Suffolk County, Massachusett, in front of Congress recently.

*Warning: The following may prove shocking to the average American used to the deranged, crony, irrational, and incompetent ramblings of your average Congressperson. Remember, Mr. Lieu’s arrogance in speaking intelligently to an issue with which he has an expertise is inappropriate at best, terroristic at worst, and completely unacceptable in the Oligarch States of America.

From Rep. Lieu’s public statement, found at ArsTechnica:

It’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem. Why do you think Apple and Google are doing this? It’s because the public is demanding it. People like me: privacy advocates. A public does not want an out-of-control surveillance state. It is the public that is asking for this. Apple and Google didn’t do this because they thought they would make less money. This is a private sector response to government overreach. Then you make another statement that somehow these companies are not credible because they collect private data. Here’s the difference: Apple and Google don’t have coercive power. District attorneys do, the FBI does, the NSA does, and to me it’s very simple to draw a privacy balance when it comes to law enforcement and privacy: just follow the damn Constitution. And because the NSA didn’t do that and other law enforcement agencies didn’t do that, you’re seeing a vast public reaction to this. Because the NSA, your colleagues, have essentially violated the Fourth Amendment rights of every American citizen for years by seizing all of our phone records, by collecting our Internet traffic, that is now spilling over to other aspects of law enforcement. And if you want to get this fixed, I suggest you write to NSA: the FBI should tell the NSA, stop violating our rights. And then maybe you might have much more of the public on the side of supporting what law enforcement is asking for. Then let me just conclude by saying I do agree with law enforcement that we live in a dangerous world. And that’s why our founders put in the Constitution of the United States—that’s why they put in the Fourth Amendment. Because they understand that an Orwellian overreaching federal government is one of the most dangerous things that this world can have. I yield back.

Simply incredible. What’s also incredible is that it takes an immigrant to remind the American public that the Constitution still matters. If we had more computer science majors in Congress who believe in the Constitution, it’d be a lot harder for the statists to dazzle elderly, crony lawyers with bullshit into so easily suspending the Bill of Rights.

Now watch the man in his own words:

Thank you Rep. Ted Lieu. You did us all a national service.

For related articles, see:

GOP Establishment Queen Mitch McConnell Introduces Patriot Act Reauthorization with Zero NSA Reforms

Congress is Attempting to Reauthorize Key Patriot Act Provisions by Sneaking it Into “USA Freedom Act”

By Demanding Backdoors to Encryption, U.S. Government is Undermining Global Freedom and Security

War on Encryption: Highlighting Two Crucial Articles on the Latest NSA Revelations

In Liberty,

Michael Krieger



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