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Government has long had access to private financial transactions when they have probable cause to relate them to a crime. One way they caught Ted Bundy was by tracing his gasoline purchase receipts, which put him in the location of several murders at the time the murders were committed. So I'm wondering why some people think that the government checking on a library record is radically different from what the government has been doing for years.

"So I'm wondering why some people think that the government checking on a library record is radically different from what the government has been doing for years."

Well, there are two answers to that. The first is something you already stated: "when they have probable cause to relate them to a crime."

The second is that your financial transactions can relate directly to criminal activity. Want to blow up a building? You need to buy the materials to make the bomb and you need to buy or rent the vehicle to transport it there. What you read relates to one thing and one thing only: what you think. My thoughts, regardless of what they may be, how awful they may be, how disgusting they may be, are NEVER within the policing jurisdiction of my government. Orwell addressed this in '1984'.

Any free people must have their thoughts free from government oversight. My government should never have veto power over my own mind.