Via mcjoan, Senator Frank Church:

Personal privacy is protected because it is essential to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our Constitution checks the power of Government for purposes of protecting the rights of individuals, in order that all our citizens may live in a free and decent society. . . . When government infringes those right instead of nurturing and protecting them, the injury spreads far beyond the particular citizens targeted to untold numbers of other Americans who may be intimidated...

The natural tendency of government is toward abuse of power. Men entrusted with power, even those aware of its dangers, tend, particularly when pressured, to slight liberty. Our constitutional system guards against this tendency. It establishes many different checks upon power. It is those wise restraints which keep men free. In the field of intelligence those restraints have too often been ignored....

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The United States must not adopt the tactics of the enemy. Means are important, as ends. Crisis makes it tempting to ignore the wise restraints that make men free. But each time we do so, each time the means we use are wrong, our inner strength, the strength which makes us free, is lessened.

Senator Barack Obama:

I . . . believe that the compromise bill is far better than the Protect America Act that I voted against last year. . . . In a dangerous world, government must have the authority to collect the intelligence we need to protect the American people. . . .

Frank Church chose to protect our civil liberties and the Constitution in the face of Executive Branch abuse. Barack Obama has chosen to capitulate in the face of Executive Branch abuse.

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