Was All Secrecy and No Privacy, Now Neither
A while back I wrote a piece here called “These Days, Its Alllll Secrecy and Noooo Privacy,” suggesting that our privacy was being invaded by secret government surveillance programs.
Now some may have called me paranoid then, but do they still think so? In the last few weeks the shroud of secrecy on these and other programs have been lifted, leaving bare the General behind the curtain.
Here is what we have learned recently:
In response to the first of these revelations, the President promised us in a recent public statement that, “The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities.'’ He further assured us that, “We’re not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans.”
Let’s be honest here, the government CANNOT protect our privacy while they monitor our phone conversations. Our right to privacy is a protection FROM government snooping. For the President to say the government is snooping on us and protecting our privacy at the same time is simply impossible. That is why the courts are only supposed to grant warrants for snooping when the evidence supports a compelling state interest that overrides our right to privacy.
Is the President saying that the threat of terrorism is so imminent that the rights of millions of citizens to have private phone calls are secondary to some compelling state interest? Is he saying that our right to a free press is secondary to the state’s interests to keep secret the illegal surveillance of American citizens, the illegal use of torture, or any of the other abuses this Administration has perpetrated on the people?
We are learning repeatedly as the shroud of secrecy is lifted that this Administration has no problem attacking its own people, destroying the precious rights that are supposed to make this country special, in the name of protecting our way of life.