Congressman Peter King (with whom I generally agrees) is defending the NSA surveillance program. He is wrong. This is the text of a comment I left on his Facebook Page (https://facebook/reppeteking/posts/10151722508713417): Congressman, as a lifelong Conservative, I generally agree with you. Indeed, in the vast majority of instances, you and I are on the same page. However, with regards to the prosecution of Edward Snowden, you are way off base. First, you say that the the "NSA surveillance program is a very effective weapon in the war on terror." The problem with that statement is that it is a validation of the idea that the ends justify the means. They do not. Ever. Before deciding whether or not a tool is to be used, we need to gauge not its efficacy but its ethics in terms of human rights. Our individual rights may not be violated, no matter how great the "greater good" may be. Benjamin Franklin told us rather prophetically that "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." He was correct. It is not acceptable to violate our liberty in order to protect us. Take the war overseas to the enemy. Do not wage it against the rights of the Citizens of this great Nation. Second, there is another fundamental principle at play here. We the People OWN the Government. The Government is simply not entitled to use intelligence classifications as a way to cover up its own bad acts. The NSA program is fundamentally and inexcusably immoral and WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW ABOUT IT. We own the Government. We own that information. Nobody - not the Administration, not the Intelligence community and not Congress - has the right to withhold that information from us. It is ours and we want it. Period. And to Blue Bloody Blazes with all the Machiavellian nonsense being trotted out by those who think the Government and what it does is more important than we are, than our desires and rights are. Third, we do not want the Government stifling future whistleblowers by prosecuting someone who did nothing but give us back that which belongs to us. Enough is enough. Our Founding Fathers warned us about Government. Thomas Paine said that it was - at best - a "necessary evil." Washington told us Government was not eloquence but force. He called it a "fearsome master." Jefferson called on us to have "eternal vigilance." Government simply can never be beneficial. It is a "necessary evil," one which we cannot do without. However, it is never good. Government is much like a sewer. It is necessary in order to perform some smelly and odious tasks. However, its purview should never expand beyond those disgusting jobs and it should never be allowed to intrude on the positive aspects of our lives in the slightest. Government is a sewer. It is disgusting and repulsive. The NSA program allows that repulsive body to invade our homes and our everyday lives. Find a better way to defend us, one which kills our enemies in their homes but leaves our individual rights intact. I am neither a liberal nor a libertarian. I am not an isolationist, a non-interventionist nor a pacifist. I am a hawk. I want to see our enemies destroyed. Spying on Americans, putting our information in a massive database does not destroy our enemies. It restricts our rights and our lives. If we had spent the last 12 years putting the full force of the US military into destroying radical Islam wherever it rears its ugly head, this would not even be an issue. At this point, the Government is justifying violating our rights in order to cover its own incompetence in prosecuting the war on terror. We are not the terrorists. Go after them where they live before they come here. And - in the process - learn to live with the fact that we will continue to demand that you LEAVE US ALONE until you finally get the message and accede. The American People will not allow this to continue. This is a debate the Government cannot - and will not - win.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:18:30 +0000
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