Gene Healy: "It Can't Happen Here" Just Did

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has long warned of a "secret PATRIOT Act" -- a classified interpretation of the law that allows the administration to undertake massive data collection on American citizens. Last week, we got a glimpse of what he meant, when a National Security Agency contractor revealed that the agency has assembled a database of at least seven years' worth of Verizon customers' call records -- a practice that apparently extends to other carriers. You know the old saying, "It can't happen here." Well, writes Gene Healy, it just did.