Editorial: Big Brother is watching everyone

Edward Snowden is on the run. And he should be given that he has made a lot of powerful enemies in the United States government. If you watch enough movies or television, it’s easy to see how this guy could have “an accident” while trying to avoid extradition back to the US. But if you keep up with current events, it’s even easier to think he might just get droned.

Snowden took a job with a government contractor apparently for the sole purpose of finding out what all nasty business the government is up to. He then took that information to the press, and a foreign newspaper shined the light on secret surveillance activities being conducted on American citizens and others in the name of national security.

One of the biggest revelations was that the government had obtained a secret court order forcing Verizon Communications to turn over tons of “metadata” on millions of cellular phone users. Basically, every Verizon customer, including your humble editor, has had their Fourth Amendment Rights violated by our government.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface there are now other known surveillance activities being conducted against the American public for our own good.

We likely would never have known about much of this except for the actions of Mr. Snowden. We can’t be sure what his personal motivations were or are, but he has found himself demonized for his actions. He’s been called a traitor and accused of treason, and you can be sure the federal government has a stack of criminal charges lined up against this guy if they ever get their hands on him.

Or, as has already been mentioned, the administration might just declare him an enemy combatant, blow up his taxi, and trumpet the whole thing on the evening news.

Rather than condemn Snowden, someone ought to give this guy a medal. And all these high-ranking DemoRepublicrats who are calling for his criminal prosecution need to take a good long look in the mirror at what they and this government are becoming.

Snowden and a few allies in the press have pulled back the curtain and exposed some pretty ugly government cockroaches to the sunshine. But rather than scurry off into the shadows, government officials have thumbed their noses at outraged citizens and pledged to continue these “necessary” programs.

It is disgusting what has happened to our government. And it’s been a bipartisan track that has led us here. President George W. Bush’s administration fueled by the attacks on 9-11 got sweeping powers to violate civil liberties under the guise of pursuing terrorists with the passage of the PATRIOT Act by wide majorities of both parties. President Obama first criticized some of those policies… but has continued them and apparently expanded them. We should be reminded that power corrupts, and freedoms lost are hard to regain.

As we approach the anniversary of our nation’s independence, it is a good time to ask what we have become. It’s already obvious that our government is largely unrecognizable from the small, limited federal republic described by our Constitution. But now we have examples of a bureaucracy and power culture that truly appears to be growing out of control to the point that no president can even know what’s happening under him much less be in command of all the forces of the Executive.

We see examples of Internal Revenue agents giving extra scrutiny based on political motives. We see agents of the press harassed and intimidated for crossing the administration. We see federal employees refuse to answer basic questions from the elected Representatives of the People. And now we know that our National Security Agency considers We the People to be the enemy… or at least possibly the enemy and worthy of scrutiny.

There is probably little about our present government that our Founding Fathers would recognize, and they would certainly be appalled to learn what we’ve given up in order to be “safe.”

Imagine if you will what would have happened if government officials had approached Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin with a secret court order. “Mr. Franklin, we don’t want to know the contents of people’s mail. We just want to know who is writing to whom, where they are when they write the letter, where the recipient of the letter is when they get it, and how long the letter is. Is all just for safety’s sake. After all, the Brits still have friends here in America and you never know what they might be up to.”

I’m sure old Ben would have told the government agents to go to hell, and then he would have done just what Mr. Snowden did and blow the whistle so every American could know just what was happening.

Far from condemning Snowden, America should be thanking him. It is time to roll back the power of the federal government. It is time for the People to demand that our representatives pull the plug on these activities, and it is time for those who continue to defend these policies to find other lines of work. It is time for Americans to be free again.