(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., took to Twitter over the weekend and proposed abolishing the Espionage Act (a favorite tool of the national security state), as reported by Axios.
Paul tweeted, “The espionage act was abused from the beginning to jail dissenters of WWI. It is long past time to repeal this egregious affront to the 1st Amendment.”
Senator Paul’s Tweet also contained an article on the espionage act by the Future of Freedom Foundation.
The FFF article argued that the Espionage Act is a relic of WWI.
The espionage act was abused from the beginning to jail dissenters of WWI. It is long past time to repeal this egregious affront to the 1st Amendment.
Repeal the Espionage Act – The Future of Freedom Foundation https://t.co/3KCgujpS9z
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 13, 2022
USA Today explained that the act “illegalized obtaining information, taking photos, or copying details of all information relevant to national defense with the intent for that information to be used against the U.S. or for the interest of other countries.”
The Espionage Act was used to justify the raid on Mar-A-Lago, per USA Today.
Part of Paul’s reasoning was probably to prevent more politically motivated attacks on former presidents, as suggested by USA Today. Still, the Espionage Act, per the FFF article, is more dangerous than our current situation would lead us to believe.
The article posted by Paul explained that the espionage act allowed Federal Law Enforcement and espionage agencies to target Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks. The article claimed that “if the Espionage Act can be enforced against Assange for what he did, it can be enforced against anyone in the press for revealing damaging inside information about the national-security establishment — i.e., the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA.”
The ability the Espionage Act granted the federal government to persecute dissenters also applies to the public. FFF explained that during WWI “the law converted anyone who publicly criticized the draft … into felons. And make no mistake about it: U.S. officials went after such people with a vengeance.”
The politically motivated raid of President Trump was the fruit of the espionage act, and Paul seemed to be suggesting we say to the act, “May you never bear fruit again!”
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