I’m going to get this thought started while it’s still fresh in my mind (I just returned from the Verizon store).  I’m sure there’s MANY other Americans out there who would agree with me that allowing the government, with the help of the telecommunication carriers, to “spy” on the normal everyday communication of MILLIONS of Americans is WRONG.  I believe it is unconstitutional.  However, this all started with the so-called Patriot Act of 2002 and has morphed into something that is completely out of control as of the beginning of 2014.  I stated back then, and I’ll reiterate, it’s so much easier to give away RIGHTS than to get them back.  I believe many Americans besides myself felt that by electing Barrack Obama in 2008 many of the egregious overreaches of the Bush/Cheney regime would be reversed – ESPECIALLY, the government eavesdropping on its citizens.  Apparently, the problem has progressively gotten worse, and the “transparent” promises of the Obama campaign have turned into one of the most secretive administrations yet.

In a society where there is true transparency one would think that “whistle-blowers” would be honored and even encouraged as a true “backstop” against government and/or corporate overreach.  Yet, during the Obama presidency we’ve seen Bradley Manning tortured for over one year (and subsequently receiving a stiff prison sentence) for leaking information to Wiki Leaks that simply stated the truth about America’s foreign policy.  (the first sign that “transparency” wasn’t such a priority)  Then came Edward Snowden who “leaked” the NSA spying information (and continues to do so) that caused many in Washington’s “Beltway” to label Snowden a “traitor.”  My response, at the time, was “are you kidding me?”  First of all, there were several (including me) who had been paying attention to this issue and knew the “spying” was going on (just not the extent of it) because it was easy to put “two plus two” together.

Then Senator Obama alarmed many of his supporters (including me) in 2008 when he supported the FISA bill passed in Congress that gave Verizon and ATT&T immunity from CLEARLY many FELONIES as they willingly gave the NSA access to what should have been private phone conversations and emails.  I actually protested with a letter to Obama’s campaign and got a response which PROMISED that Senator Obama would “fix” the FISA bill once he was elected president.  Of course, as time went by and I saw no indication any “fix” was going to happen, I realized that President Obama, once in office, was allowing the illegal spying to proceed.  As I recall, there was a court decision that supported the viewpoint of those of us who claim this action violated the 4th amendment to the constitution, but I don’t believe the subject would have garnered ANY public discussion without the efforts of Mr Snowden – who had to actually leave the country in 0rder to inform the rest of us what OUR government was “up to.”

I’ve been constantly amazed at all the Americans who “wrap” themselves in the American flag and proclaim constitution this and constitution that – for example, I can’t tell you how many people I know who believe the constitution gives them the “right” to own assault weapons and magazines that hold 50-100 bullets – yet support the Patriot Act.  (It’s like selective commitment to the constitution – as people imagine it)  NRA members are BLOCKING attempts at even requiring the registration of guns while jumping on the “traitor” bandwagon in relation to Snowden.  What has happened to common sense?   In my mind, at some point, Edward Snowden will become an honored public figure.  He continues to give us information as to how far beyond the imaginable our own government has gone in their attempt to convince us all they’re “making us safer” in the “war on terror.”  I believe it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt who proclaimed, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.”  And, the paranoia which has engulfed the United States since the infamous 9/11 attacks has essentially turned this nation upside down.  We have responded in the very way Osama bin Laden expected – and, it’s (this paranoid response) continuing to weaken the “fabric” of America from within.

Those in the “Military Industrial Complex” which we were so prudently warned about by none other than Dwight Eisenhower – the general who led us to victory in WW II – are, and will continue – profiting on the paranoia which has been spread amongst the American public by none other than our “leaders.”  Bush/Cheney were expert at this as they, on the one hand, ginned up our response to one terrorist attack by committing our nation to TWO unwinnable OCCUPATIONS of nations on the other side of the world and then, on the other hand, they supported and participated in the corporate profiteering from these two occupations which has pilfered TRILLIONS from the American economy almost directly into the hands of themselves and their supporters.  (there are numerous books you can read which will leave you with the same result they left with me – Bush/Cheney NEVER intended to prosecute bin Laden – he gave them the excuse to implement their “plan”)  Bush/Cheney not only preached fear on the American public as a way to set up their corporate warmonger friends for unbelievable profits, they used fear and terror tactics themselves in Iraq as they attempted to “privatize” the Iraq economy to further benefit their “cronies” (with estimates in the MILLIONS  of Iraqi’s victimized by their actions)

For example I’ve read several accounts of how Vice President Cheney gained over $100 MILLION from his association with Halliburton and their seemingly unending NO BID contracts from the defense department in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Halliburton, under Cheney (he was CEO from 1995 until he became Vice President in 2000) operated as if “above the law,” just as Cheney did as VP and before, including opening a Halliburton office in Tehran Iran (that’s right, the Iran Cheney wanted to “bomb”) while Cheney was CEO which was a violation of the “Trading with the Enemy Act” – although Halliburton claimed their “innocence” because it was actually a “shill” (my description) subsidiary with a “base” in the Cayman Islands. (yuk)  Additionally, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reportedly profited just as handsomely based on his previous employment with entities such as Bechtel.  Douglas Feith supposedly, as did many other Bush/Cheney “cronies,” “retired wealthy” based on the “privatization” of the Iraq “war” and his (and others’) willingness to PROFIT from it.  When you see the long list of Bush related people (including his father and grandfather) involved in the corporate no-bid “merry-go-round” involved in Iraq and Afghanistan it makes your stomach curdle (well, if not yours, mine).  The Bush family has a history of war profiteering that goes back to the 1930’s when Prescott Bush was providing war related materials to Adolf Hitler as the Third Reich was preparing for their “Blitzkrieg” of Europe.

Getting back to my main point tonight, it’s the SECRECY that pervades Washington DC – both the government and the multinational corporate interests who are profiting from America’s militarism – that allows this abomination to continue.  “We the people” are already facing a sad reality that our “liberal media” has been consolidated into the “hands” of about 9 multinational corporations which are anything but “liberal.”  If we allow our government to intrude on our privacy by making our phone messages and emails available to the government (and, who knows who else?) we are heading for what can only be termed a “slippery slope.”  America became a world leader of the “free world” through the efforts of LIBERAL activists who gained momentum during the “New Deal” administration of Franklin Roosevelt.  The “right” in America has been FIGHTING the gains made by many of our grandparents and great grandparents (depending on your age) since Roosevelt’s first “radical” initiatives – mostly all aimed at building a vibrant MIDDLE CLASS of hard working “blue collar” workers.  We’re seeing today (2014) the same “class” of people who were called the “Robber Barons” trying to take us back to that time period.  Just check their (the “right’s”) message – they’ve been focused on making the word “liberal” an abomination to the point where even liberals don’t use the word anymore – that’s part of the propaganda “plan.”

And, for those of us who want to prevent the “right” (people like Charles and David Koch, Sheldon Adleson, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Dick Cheney, untold numbers of CEO’s and executives of the multinational corporations who are spending wildly to control our legislatures, and the list could go on and on) from succeeding in turning the clock in America back a hundred years or so (that’s what they accomplished with Citizens United) this NSA spying issue is MAJOR!  I’m constantly shocked at how far this right wing “cabal” has managed to “get” in the days since Ronald Reagan “flipped the switch” on America’s political scene.  I keep thinking “we the people” will “wise up,” but the sophistication of the “opposition” and the economic viability (they’ve got UNLIMITED funding) they possess constantly reminds me that unless “we the people” can somehow get the “masses” to “wake up” to what are the intentions of the “right” the possibilities are scary.

That’s why today, as I was walking out of the Verizon store, I couldn’t help but think that the “hammer” possessed by the opposition is getting heavier all the time.  I’m reading books as fast as I can, I’m talking to as many people as I can, I’m giving money (very small amounts – like $20 at a time) to the few people in politics I believe “get it,” (people like Bernie Sanders, Alan Grayson, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, and various web based organizations) and, yet, here I am giving money to Verizon (have been for years) and getting sucked into their “2 year contracts” so that I can have one of their “smart” phones.  I’m beginning to think they’re really “stupid” phones – because I’m giving them money (and, by the way, their service borders on arrogance – yet, their store was jammed with people – you have to WAIT a significant amount of time in order to give them your money!) while I KNOW that they are passing on the “data” that is generated by my “smart” phone to some HUGE data base that can be accessed by who knows who based on who knows what! I continued to wonder;  Are we Americans financing the destruction of our own republic through unknowing reliance on companies like Verizon who are helping to dismantle our constitution?  All progressives need to decide in 2014; “how important is our constitution?” and, if we decide (and, I hope we do) that it’s important, then, “What do we need to do in order to protect our right to privacy and the 4th amendment?”

I’ll end this by saying that, unfortunately, this is an issue where I don’t feel any sense of confidence that progressives can rely on democrats to “come to the rescue.”  Obviously, President Obama has performed dismally in standing up for the 4th amendment.  We need another FDR to emerge in the next couple of years – someone who will “take on” the corporate interests who are leading the assault on these basic privileges we’ve evidently taken for granted to the point where we may loose them.  FDR, in response to attacks from the corporate “right,” famously said, “They hate me, and I welcome their hate.”  My hope was that President Obama would have the same fighting spirit – but, that hasn’t been the case.  Somehow, this issue and issues like “Citizens United” need to be resolved at the ballot box – and it will be up to progressives to put these issues into the public domain so that if Americans choose to abandon their traditional values it won’t be unknowingly.