Recently, there has been talk in political circles entertaining the notion of granting amnesty for Edward Snowden under the condition he doesn’t release anymore secrets respective of the activities of the National Security Administration (NSA). However, although there is significant public support for his amnesty inside the United States and abroad, it is highly unlikely the US Government will grant Snowden amnesty. The reason for this is not because the US is worried about further damage to our national security. This damage was complete shortly after Mr. Snowden arrived in China and certainly by time he was debriefed by Russian intelligence officers. Further, many of the programs and capabilities Snowden purportedly exposed were already known by foreign intelligence and had been leaked in domestic alternate media outlets. No, it is not the fear of what foreign governments may glean from the revelations, but what the American people will learn that is driving the angst at the White House. The bottom line is that controlling elites within the US Government are angry and want revenge for Snowden’s official exposure of some of their most valuable and potent tools to surveil, track, and control the citizens of the US. The real damage Snowden did was to expose and weaken the secret police state that had been quietly built over decades in a dramatic fashion and for that he should be applauded as a hero irrespective of the obvious collateral security damage exposing the programs required, which was unfortunate and no doubt costly. Nonetheless, the need to uphold an oath to the Constitution superseded any in-house whistleblower policies and procedures that are more far more appropriately designed to silence dissent and protect political careers than to ensure freedom and liberty are preserved.
The government is now on the defensive trying to cover up and hide its illegal and unconstitutional surveillance activities that up until now were effectively hidden behind the curtain of secrecy. The President’s inside circle is undoubtable worried that if the full scope of the surveillance activities to include what the President himself has ordered and authorized ever gets out to the public, the Administration would be finished and the President could possibly be impeached. President Obama is feeling so much pressure he was forced to address the nation over the NSA’s spying in a manner intended to be perceived as reigning in the excessive surveillance. However, the President’s statements and actions show he has no intention whatsoever of curtailing the unconstitutional domestic surveillance. Instead of curtailing the domestic spying apparatus, President Obama has hypocritically acted and doubled down to protect the crown jewel of his police state, which he vehemently criticized when it was in its infancy under the control of former President George W. Bush. The White House has forced the NSA (as well as broader intelligence and defense communities) to hide programs even deeper and review the vetting of anyone associated with these programs. It has launched witch hunts for leakers with the intent to not just find and punish anyone willing to uphold their oath to the Constitution, but instill fear in anyone contemplating outing a classified, illegal, government program. It has also launched disinformation campaigns with the collusion of its controlled media to convince people the programs have actually been effective at thwarting domestic terrorism even though reports released from Congress state the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on these programs over the last two decades have not prevented a single attack. Further, the White House has spared no expense pressuring politically appointed judges to throw out lawsuits. President Obama has also used all of his political capital to collude with Congress (not just Democrats) to stifle any hint of legislation that would restrict, defund, and or stop the unwarranted, mass, domestic surveillance of the American public. Make no mistake, if President Obama and the elites have their way, the police state will only grow more powerful.
The notion that the government must know about every detail of every citizen’s life is enemy of freedom and liberty. This power is the holy grail of any police state and the information derived from this wide net of surveillance will be stored, analyzed, and used for near unlimited control of any population. We have written often about the false and dangerous logic behind the oft cited statement, “If you are not doing anything wrong you don’t have anything to worry about.” Simply taking an opposition standpoint to this government has already resulted in a number of people killed by drones and historically speaking, simply being literate was enough for the Soviet “Progressives,” also known as the Bolsheviks, to execute millions. Logic would conclude that if the government was indeed not interested in this information for control, then the programs would have little to no value and it would happily cease these extremely expensive programs. However, the government has doggedly pursued these programs at an immense cost and in secret violation of the law to satisfy what historically has been shown to be any government’s unquenchable desire for more power. Only the most naïve and ignorant citizens could feel comfortable with this type of excessive, unconstitutional violation of one’s privacy. For those supporting these programs from within the government, only through extensive manipulation of reality could one justify these programs for “good” and even then this would require a nearly blind (stupid) belief that those senior policy makers telling them that these programs are “legal” and “authorized” are genuinely, good, honest, trustworthy, and have the public’s best interests at heart. In fact, the mere notion that a person that shuns expansive power would also be the same person that seeks political office is contradictory and the notion of an “honest” politician is plain ridiculous. In fact next to no one would say they “trust” politicians, but yet when one is ordered to conduct an illegal government operation, these employees act as if they are robots carrying out the orders because the system “told them to do it.” Further, although their work may seem to be legitimate on the surface and focus on what they “are told” is a real terrorist target, these programs are so compartmentalized, there is little or no way for those subordinate minions to know the full scope of how the information being collected is being used and to what end it serves. Those of you that believe you are justified because someone with “rank” ordered you to conduct a certain act should remember the lessons of Nuremberg. You cannot hide behind orders and you must answer to a higher law.
If you value your freedom and liberty, you must demand your privacy is respected. You must demand the domestic spy state is permanently dismantled and defunded. Inform your neighbors. Organize and rally the masses to force bought politicians to act. You must bring cases to court and doggedly sue the government for violating your Constitutional Rights. Vote out any and every politician not aggressively acting to stop this spying regardless of party affiliation. If that is too much for you then at least donate money to those organizations and individuals that are working to stop the police state. These groups are numerous and growing such as Campaign for Liberty http://www.campaignforliberty.org/ and the Rutherford Institute https://www.rutherford.org/. Your support to organizations like these is invaluable and does have an impact. Both of the above institutions have already forced legislative debate, bills, and successful suits against the government on behalf of your civil liberties and freedoms.
By Guiles Hendrik
January 21, 2014
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