Sen. Bernie Sanders of VT blasted the National Security Administration and the Obama Administration for conducting sweeping surveillance on everyday Americans who aren't suspected of any wrongdoing.

As Glenn Greenwald reported for The Guardian, the NSA is grabbing the phone records from all Verizon customers from April 25-July 19.

And not just those calls you might be having with someone overseas, which the NSA has asserted a right to, at least since 9/11. No, the agency is grabbing the calls you're having with someone else right here in the USofA.

While many Senators leaped to defend the NSA, Sanders would have none of it.

"The United States should not be accumulating phone records on tens of millions of innocent Americans," Sanders said. "That is not what democracy is about. That is not what freedom is about. Congress must address this issue and protect the constitutional rights of the American people."

Sanders added: "While we must aggressively pursue international terrorists and all of those who would do us harm, we must do it in a way that protects the Constitution and the civil liberties which make us proud to be Americans."

Congratulations to Bernie Sanders for his profile in courage.

If you liked this story by Matthew Rothschild, the editor of The Progressive magazine, check out his story Stop the Trial of Bradley Manning.

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