Posted on 06/16/2013 8:00:00 AM PDT by Deadeye Division
America is truly doomed. At least the idea of America, that experiment in self-government and liberty.
I say that not because of the spying revelations, which came hard on the heels of the ongoing Benghazi, IRS and AP/Fox News scandals. That government is spying on the people does not surprise me. I have long maintained — and have been called paranoid for it — that the government is monitoring every phone call and digital communication in this country.
That is why I like to use encryption technology when emailing, though very few of my correspondents have the same security sense as I do. Besides, despite claims to the contrary, I suspect the federal government has a backdoor to every encryption technology in use today.
However, as Sherlock Holmes told Dr. John Watson in “A Scandal in Bohemia,” “You see but you do not observe.” That is the case here.
What civil libertarians see is the spying issue. That, to most of them, is the “problem” at hand.
However, the true problem is deeper. It is the reaction of the American people to the spying revelations.
In a Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll, a majority of Americans were OK with the federal government spying on them if it meant the possibility that it could prevent a terrorist attack.
The poll found that 56 percent of Americans consider the National Security Agency’s accessing of telephone call records of millions of Americans through secret court orders “acceptable,” while 41 percent call the practice “unacceptable.”
Additionally, 62 percent of Americans say it’s more important for the government to investigate terrorist threats, even if those investigations intrude on personal privacy, while 34 percent say privacy should be the focus, regardless of the effect on such investigations.
I have met these people myself. When asked about the spying, they invariably say, in one form or another, “You have nothing to fear, if you have nothing to hide.”
That my friends, is the death knell of a society when it becomes the prevalent view. That is something you expect from Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda for Nazi Germany. That kind of thinking has no place in a free society, especially in this digital age when any electronic communication can be kept indefinitely.
The idea that if you have nothing to hide, then you should be free from fear does not stand up to scrutiny. For example, as this spying here demonstrates, the collection of data often lasts longer than those who initiated it. So even if the initial people involved would not misuse the data, there is no guarantee that future government functionaries would not misuse the data.
That counters the claim put out by the once-libertarian Cato Institute that because the data has not been abused or breached, then government has done something right and we should be OK with the spying.
Another problem is that data collected by the government will eventually be shared across the government and, probably, with the private sector and the public, whether intentionally or through a data breach. There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of cases of data being publicized through intentional theft as well as accidental losses, such as leaving a memory stick in the park or having a laptop stolen from a car.
Finally, there is no way to ensure that the data collected is even accurate. Every week we hear cases of mistaken identity or incorrect addresses leading authorities to harass the wrong people or kick in the wrong door, a mistake that is sometimes fatal.
The poll shows the hypocrisy, or idiocy, of the American voter. Sixty-nine percent of Democrats say terrorism investigations, not privacy, should be the government’s main concern, which is an 18-percentage-point jump from early January 2006, when the NSA activity under the George W. Bush administration was first reported. Compared with that time, Republicans’ focus on privacy has increased 22 points.
The Cato Institute is defending government spying, Democrats are claiming terrorism investigations are more important than privacy and Republicans are defending privacy against fighting terrorism.
What a topsy-turvy world. It is indeed strange times in which we live.
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Thomas J. Lucente Jr. is licensed to practice law in the state of Ohio. He is a veteran of the Iraq war, has a bachelor’s degree in history and a law degree from the University of Toledo. He has been published in newspapers, magazines and websites across the country. He can be heard on “Talk with Ron Williams” on WCIT-AM at 3 p.m. Thursdays (listen at http://940wcit.com). Readers may write to him at The Lima News, 3515 Elida Road, Lima, Ohio 45807-1538, or e-mail him at tlucente@limanews.com. His telephone number is 800-686-9924, ext. 2095, or 419-993-2095. Visit his blog at http://www.lucente.org. Follow him on Twitter at http://tho.lu/twitter, Google Plus at http://tho.lu/google, and Facebook at http://tho.lu/facebook.
While liberty has been stolen from us bit by bit from Woodrow Wilson through the present, Obama has pushed things into overdrive. Obama is fundamentally changing America into something that more and more resembles East Germany including extensive spying on citizens.
“That counters the claim put out by the once-libertarian Cato Institute that because the data has not been abused or breached, then government has done something right and we should be OK with the spying.”
Bindmoggling.
I’m fine with terrorism investigations. If the government has probable cause that someone is a terrorist, get a warrant. It’s that simple. Under the 4th Amendment, the government has both the moral and legal right to search and seize evidence of crimes.
Broad monitoring and recording of large groups of people without probable cause is both immoral and illegal under the 4th Amendment. Even then, if Americans think it’s more important to be secure (assuming the government can keep us secure—a BIG assumption), they can amend the US Constitution to permit whatever they want.
Until such time that the US Constitution is amended, the majority does not have the legal or moral right to take away the minority’s protections under the 4th Amendment. Again, it’s as simple as that.
How about we just throw the Freedom hating bums out and reclaim America?
Everybody read this: Obama is trying to infiltrate evangelical churches.
This article was found on americanpatrol.com. American Patrol is all about immigration, illegal immigration and anything patriotic. Freepers should read it.
“In a Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll,,,,”
You can safely ignore those poll results. That poll was designed to shape opinion, not measure it. The Washington Post has had a long proud history of being a mouthpiece for the intelligence community. The have ran planted stories that that CIA has given them.
Look up “Operation Mockingbird”.
And now, they get caught in illegal domestic spying, and sure enough, a week or 2 later, here comes the WaPo poll saying nobody really cares. It’s Laughably obvious.
Thank you, mountainlion, for your statement: “Who is this guy? Is he on Soros’ payroll spreading gloom and doom. This is hardly round 1 of a 12 round fight. A recall petition in Colorado got 2,000 more recall signatures than the politician got votes in the election.”
While I appreciate and understand the fears which people verbalize as statements and pronouncements of doom and gloom, those very statements seem to be putting American into an early grave without a whimper or fight without using the tools which are still in our hands which the Founders and our veterans provided. Those statements serve to demoralize those who would fight.
Yes, there are overwhelming problems. Yes there are areas, too many areas in which the systems are broken or damaged. But that does not mean we just give it all up because it is hard. Valley forge was hard. Antietam was hard. Storming Normandy was hard. Iwo Jima was hard.
What our generation may be facing may be the hardest battle of all: the battle of will and mind and the claiming of our very own souls and the soul of our nation.
It is my deeply held opinion and belief that we must hold to the the vision of Victory and our only true recourse,and that is the Author of our Liberty, our Lord. HE is on His throne and will chastise his people as required until those whom He loves will repent. THEN the ones who seek to destroy the Author’s work will be dealt with by Him.
Our Father loves us and WANTS to give us every good thing, but we must overcome ourselves in our foolish misuses of His gifts. Just as a loving father will not continually give his little daughter lemonade which she persists in pouring on the ground, neither will our Heavenly Father continue to pour His blessings on those of us who take them for granted and use them in ways they were not intended and in effect, pour them on the ground.
We must wake up and take stock of our readiness to bend the knee to our Lord in every thought, word, feeling and action. Are we ready to stir ourselves from our couches and work on making our bodies fit? Are we willing to do what we are able to do in taking whatever step is in front of us that we are able to do this day to help the cause of Freedom?
We truly must be waking up every day and asking, first thing, Oh Lord, what can I do THIS day - great or small- to save America?
Cradle of Freedom said this:
Everybody read this: Obama is trying to infiltrate evangelical churches.
This article was found on americanpatrol.com. American Patrol is all about immigration, illegal immigration and anything patriotic. Freepers should read it.
~~~
Thanks so much for the link, cradle of freedom. I ratify your urging of Freepers to read this.
Right on & it only took 13 words.
Then we can dispense with the 5th amendment and allow the government to compel you to testify against yourself. After all, "you have nothing to fear, if you have nothing to hide."
/s
It is my deeply held opinion and belief that we must hold to the the vision of Victory and our only true recourse,and that is the Author of our Liberty, our Lord. HE is on His throne and will chastise his people as required until those whom He loves will repent. THEN the ones who seek to destroy the Author’s work will be dealt with by Him.
Well said.
We ain’t dead until a while after we quit breathing.
Bump
Don't you think that in every courtroom, where a defendant pleads the 5th, their guilt is already assumed?
Thanks for the kind words.
“We ain’t dead until a while after we quit breathing.”
LOL!...and THAT’s well said!
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