The great Jacob Hornberger has brilliantly exposed the real reason for the NSA spying on us in his commentary today. He reminds us that most citizens, who conform to the Establishment, show deference to State authority. However, "if you’re the type who has an independent mindset, one that might come to recognize that the warfare state is one great big racket by which power-lusters use federal power to plunder and loot your wealth and income, and if you’re the type of person who might begin objecting to this racket and calling for a restoration of American freedom, then it’s entirely possible that the files that the government is keeping on your private life might come back to haunt you." Some examples of this include Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon Papers and revealed the lies put out by the State officials regarding the progress of the Vietnam War. Some modern examples include the heroes Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden, who are actively persecuted by the State for revealing the truth about the State, about the military-industrial complex, about the surveillance-state communism behind it all.
Hornberger warns us that when something is said against the military state, the State can use your records and twist them and use them against you to humiliate, repress, and discredit you. "When the time comes that such information is necessary to use, all they have to do is just type in the person’s name into the search field. Voila! Telephone records, emails, telephone recordings, medical records, and lots more." This shows the terrible consequences of such horrendous power. As the great British libertarian historian Lord Acton said, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Theses powers allow the State "to maintain their tax-and-control racket over the citizenry and to ensure that everyone continues behaving like a good little citizen, one who always defers to authority and never makes waves." The ultimate goal is to control people, not to defend the country.
I recommend you read his commentary and send it to everyone you know. This is vital, and you need it. Also, don't forget to read these shocking InfoWars reports on mass American compliance to the NSA's spying, the connection between surveillance and Obamacare, the effort to portray Edward Snowden as a Chinese intelligence operative underway, and the massive American opposition to the Fourth Amendment. These are valuable in a time of crisis.
UPDATE: A new Gallup poll shows that most American adults (53%) disapprove of the spying. This is encouraging news, considering that there was an InfoWars report on mass compliance to the spying. InfoWars has a report on this.
UPDATE (6/21/2013): Glenn Greenwald at the Guardian exposes the whole FISA process in a hard-hitting report. It details the secrecy, the disregard for the rule of law, and a host of other corrupt things. Also, he has another report that details the court orders that allow the NSA to collect data without warrants.
UPDATE (6/24/2013): For a Christian viewpoint on this, Bethany Keeley-Jonker has a thought-provoking article at ThinkChristian on why the sinfulness of man should make us wary of NSA surveillance. Here is a thoughtful quote from that great article:
Hornberger warns us that when something is said against the military state, the State can use your records and twist them and use them against you to humiliate, repress, and discredit you. "When the time comes that such information is necessary to use, all they have to do is just type in the person’s name into the search field. Voila! Telephone records, emails, telephone recordings, medical records, and lots more." This shows the terrible consequences of such horrendous power. As the great British libertarian historian Lord Acton said, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Theses powers allow the State "to maintain their tax-and-control racket over the citizenry and to ensure that everyone continues behaving like a good little citizen, one who always defers to authority and never makes waves." The ultimate goal is to control people, not to defend the country.
I recommend you read his commentary and send it to everyone you know. This is vital, and you need it. Also, don't forget to read these shocking InfoWars reports on mass American compliance to the NSA's spying, the connection between surveillance and Obamacare, the effort to portray Edward Snowden as a Chinese intelligence operative underway, and the massive American opposition to the Fourth Amendment. These are valuable in a time of crisis.
UPDATE: A new Gallup poll shows that most American adults (53%) disapprove of the spying. This is encouraging news, considering that there was an InfoWars report on mass compliance to the spying. InfoWars has a report on this.
UPDATE (6/21/2013): Glenn Greenwald at the Guardian exposes the whole FISA process in a hard-hitting report. It details the secrecy, the disregard for the rule of law, and a host of other corrupt things. Also, he has another report that details the court orders that allow the NSA to collect data without warrants.
UPDATE (6/24/2013): For a Christian viewpoint on this, Bethany Keeley-Jonker has a thought-provoking article at ThinkChristian on why the sinfulness of man should make us wary of NSA surveillance. Here is a thoughtful quote from that great article:
Despite these concerns, I’m still inclined to believe programs like PRISM should be discontinued or at least subject to greater checks and balances. Partly, I’m concerned that even if the program is meant for safety, some of the people working for NSA contractors might use them to target individuals for reasons of prejudice or vengeance. Alan Jacob’s recent post on the topic also reminds me that as Christians, we should be especially attentive to how programs like this might endanger those who are at the fringes of society or disadvantaged in some way. He highlights a traditionalist desire for tolerance of our own differences, but I think also concern for orphans, widows and aliens might extend to those the law tends to come down harder on. Some groups or individuals get increased scrutiny because of their ethnicity, or their (perfectly legal) jobs or interests. Even if my interests and habits won’t put me at risk, I want to take a position that protects minorities, journalists and non-violent political activists.
I recommend that you read it and learn from it. Also, read this two-year old article at The Chronicle of Higher Education to learn why privacy matters, even when you got "nothing to hide."
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