Gordaen’s Blog

It really amazes me what the government can get away with now. Currently, the big issue is the NSA monitoring everybody’s phone call records. I feel even more dumbfounded when I read that Americans actually agree with these actions. Keep in mind the NSA is not specifically obtaining records for terrorists and people with suspected terrorist ties, but they are monitoring all of us. They have executive approval to monitor any phonecall to or from the US without any proof of suspicion necessary. The president claims the monitoring targets Al Queda, but if they are known Al Queda terrorists, why have we not stopped them? If they have no known terrorist ties, why are we invading their privacy?

People continually say, “It shouldn’t bother you if you have nothing to hide.” Then why do you put your letters in envelopes? Why does our society have stalls in the bathroom? Why are cameras in dressing rooms illegal? Because we, as Americans, value our privacy. The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects us against unlawful searches and seizures… or at least it is supposed to. Apparently, if our government wants to, it can ignore the constitution.

Terrorists want us to live in fear, and it looks like our government has already bought into it. We aren’t being protected, we’re being shackled. How many billions of dollars will we spend taking away the freedom and privacy of Americans? How many steps before we are no longer America, the country known for freedom and the pursuit of happiness, before we become America, the country full of opression and panic. Our government is turning in our Constitution for consternation, our amendments for anxiety. While you’re at it, Government, feel free to take down all of our American flags since they just get in the way of satellite surveillance and don’t really mean anything anymore.