Of the people, by the people…
for the people.
The recent release of those NSA documents sure has opened a pandora’s box. I have not been able to get the whole issue off of my mind since the story first broke. I wonder how far things would have gone if none of this came to light. Let me frame this by saying, I’m not an alarmist or conspiracy theorist and am generally a conservative and believe in a smaller government (I won’t get started on the Affordable Healthcare Act). Though generally I’m inquisitive and look for the “why” in everything. I’m just plain curious. I’m also a direct descendent of Andrew Kimbley who fought in the Virigina Brigade of the Revolutionary war and was a founding father of Louisville Kentucky.
First off, whether Edward Snowden was right or wrong in what he did or how he did it not really important to me at this point, what is important is that he DID stand up and bring something to light we all suspected.
I have some fundamental problems with this entire issue. The United States of America was founded on one basic principal; Freedom from Tyranny. This was the driving force in the revolutionary war. America was the first country in the history of the world to make such quantum leap away from monarchies and autocratic rule to an entirely new system of government built on specific values. A core value of the United States of America is a government by the people as stated in Declaration of Independence: “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”. Americans fought hard to gain these freedoms and many lives have been lost protecting them.
The Patriot act has turned this upside down. What was first developed as a means of preventing terrorism has gone too far. We’ve all tolerated the TSA at airports, but in comparison to the NSA, the TSA is a very transparent agency. The NSA operates totally in the dark.
Our American system is based on the people being in control of the government, not vice versa.
I don’t have a problem with the basic surveillance actions of the Patriot Act and the NSA. I fully understand the need to listen for potential terrortist action that may harm American citizens. I also understand that once I make a mobile phone call or send an electronic communication, it’s out there and can be read or heard by someone with the right tools. If I need to tell someone something private, I need to meet them in person or use a dual encryption method, though even that can be broken.
The problem I have with this whole issue is the government harvesting data on Americans without their knowledge, either legally, or not, and keeping that information in perpetuity. This reeks of a violation of due-process. They get to request information on Americans from a service provider and hold that information without prior proof of involevment in illegal activity.
This also tips the balance of power in our country from the people to the government. The system they’ve built is a mini secret government within the bigger government. It is a very short leap before this goes too far to turn back. It would only take a small group of people who believe that they know what’s better for the people that the people do themselves. Low voter turnout feeds right into their hands. Think of the recent financial crisis, it was a small group of people thinking they were smarter than everyone else and their greed took over.
And all the while, they’ll be saying, trust us, we’re doing this to protect you.
We can’t let this issue go away, we the people need to keep asking What? and Why?
