New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was dismissive of efforts to curtail the National Security Agency's surveillance systems. Christie excoriated the "strain of libertarianism that’s going through both parties," suggesting that people like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky explain their positions to families of September 11 victims. Christie's reputation as a small-government, do-your-own-thing maverick apparently has a sharply-drawn boundary he won't cross: undermining the authoritarian weight of the United States government.