I gave the 'least untruthful' answer.Shades of 1984 and doublespeak...
I'm beginning to thing that our national leaders think of us, the American citizenry, as the enemy...
On a related note, here's Bruce Schneier, writing in the New York Times:
And we need to determine how we treat whistle-blowers in this country. We have whistle-blower protection laws that apply in some cases, particularly when exposing fraud, and other illegal behavior. N.S.A. officials have repeatedly lied about the existence, and details, of these programs to Congress.Yes.
Only after all of these legal issues have been resolved should any prosecution of Snowden move forward. Because only then will we know the full extent of what he did, and how much of it is justified.
I believe that history will hail Snowden as a hero -- his whistle-blowing exposed a surveillance state and a secrecy machine run amok. I'm less optimistic of how the present day will treat him, and hope that the debate right now is less about the man and more about the government he exposed.
I don't think they think of all of us as the enemy.... I think they have just decided we are all potential enemies/threats. They are lost in all their skullduggery. When I hear things like "if it saves a single life" I cringe. That exact phrase could be (and is) used to justify any action. I'm dismayed that so many are willing to abandon their oaths and treat the constitution as if it is an inconvenience to work around. If indeed there are parts of the constitution that need changing, there is a legal, constitutional process for doing so. Congress cannot legally pass laws that subvert the constitution but they do it anyway. Changes in the wake of the patriot act are certainly not within the letter or the spirit of the constitution, but because "it keeps us safe" the fact is ignored. Even when it doesn't actually keep us safe. The damage done to this country due to the 9/11 attacks is breathtaking. And none of that damage was done by the terrorists themselves. It was done by opportunists in our own government.
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