Rand Paul 2016: I’m not being unreasonable on privacy …

Sen. Rand Paul says he does not think he is being unreasonable in his stand against government surveillance practices.

Im just asking for two amendments and a simple majority vote on ending the National Security Agencys bulk data collection, the Kentucky Republican said on CBS This Morning on Tuesday.

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I think sometimes my party gets all caught up in the Second Amendment, which is fine, but we dont protect the Fourth Amendment enough, he added. But actually I think neither party ends up protecting the Fourth Amendment enough, which is the right to privacy.

Paul downplayed any bad feelings between him and his fellow Kentucky senator, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who failed to secure a deal in the Senate regarding the surveillance programs before Congress left for recess, in large part due to Paul.

I dont think we need counseling yet, he laughed. On the NSA thing, we are on opposite sides. I do think we keep it very civil.

Arguing that giving the government too much power opens the door for systemic bias to enter the system, Paul noted historical examples where race and political motivations played a role in government surveillance.

President Barack Obama is disingenuous about this, as he could end the practice on his own, Paul said on CBS.

Paul echoed the remarks in a later interview with Fox & Friends.

We did it to the Japanese-Americans in World War II. We did it to civil rights protesters during the 60s and to Vietnam War protesters. We just started grabbing them up and started looking at behavior we didnt like. So the right to dissent in a free country is very important, and some would say this has a chilling effect on a right to dissent, he said.

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Rand Paul 2016: I'm not being unreasonable on privacy ...

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