June 19, 2013

Pick A Tyrant

By Tammy Derouin

Abuse of power is disguised and always denied.  Those who wish to control always believe they know what’s best and they are never wrong.  They have become masters of their craft.  They disguise their motive and agenda. The ends will always justify the means.  They will even make it look like they are taking concessions to convince you they are willing to be flexible.  It will appear they want to work with you.  To object makes you look uncooperative.  If their motive is discovered they will of course deny any wrongdoing.  It’s for your benefit or your protection.  They don’t mean any harm, do they?  If you question their intentions you make yourself even more vulnerable to attack.  You were already the target but now they pull out the big guns.  It’s fine for them to have the guns but not you.

When I read about the NSA’s spy program and the government’s capability to invade our privacy, I found it difficult to comprehend that this is happening in the United States.   This is activity that only happens in other countries, or so we were taught.  Ever since September 11, 2001, Americans have been conditioned to give up their rights in the name of security.  Politicians, including the president, have implied that we should be fine with the loss of privacy or our rights if it’s for the greater good.  What is the greater good?  Whose ideas are we being nudged, pushed and then shoved to conform too? 

Our country is turning into a police state, something that we used to fight against.  Can you imagine if the tyrants of the past had the ability to know every detail of their opponents’ lives?  How would they have used financial, medical or educational information against them?  What about their personal and private information?  What if they would have known the hopes and fears of their enemies?  What makes each person vulnerable?  Can you imagine how useful such confidential information could have been used?  The power, the influence, the control would have been catastrophic.  How do you defend yourself when every weapon being used against you is a direct assault on your ability to function? 

How would our world look if tyrants such as Stalin, Mao, Hitler or Mussolini would have had such private information on those they wished to control?  Pick a tyrant, any tyrant and imagine how the outcome could have been. 

Now imagine your life today.  How does it feel to know that the government, your government has all this information stored on you?  The PRISM program has been revealed and the government has made the whistleblower a target.  He’s a target because he had the courage to tell the American people what their government is doing.  The government is using all their resources to convince you he is an enemy of the state.  He drew his line.  He said enough is enough.

The Washington Post obtained a top-secret document that lists some very familiar companies.  The Post reported how the NSA collects the information it wants.  According to the document:  “Collection directly from the servers of these U.S. Service Providers:  Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.”  How often do you use these servers?  You have become a target of your own government. 

Verizon received its orders from a “secret court.”  The court orders prohibit anyone from revealing the existence of such a secret program.  A Verizon official declined comment last week.  It isn’t surprising considering the personal consequences that could be involved. The NSA has the ability to collect everybody’s information.

In the eyes of today’s law, you may not be doing anything wrong or illegal.  What about tomorrow?  What if what you are doing today is considered questionable or illegal activity at some future time? The “I’m not doing anything wrong so what does it matter” argument is irrelevant.  The entity that is spying makes the rules.  In this case it’s our federal government.  The ruling party would decide if your activity is legal or not.  The law would change based on the philosophy of the powers that be.  Everyone would be a potential target.  No one would be safe.

We have the tool to stop the government from over reaching its power and authority.  The Constitution is the only way to prevent such tyranny from gaining a stronger hold on our country.  Of all the documents that have been saved over time, I feel this administration would like nothing more than to push the delete button on the Constitution.

“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.

Ayn Rand