September 18, 2013

Knock Out Punch

By Tammy Derouin

There was a time when Americans were not easily fooled.  We had a no-nonsense attitude.  Cut to the chase and don’t try to sell me something that isn’t true or just plain stupid.  We have a word for that but I’ll let you use your imagination.  We used to demand proof if we thought someone was trying to pull the wool over our eyes.  Now we look at a wolf and obediently say it’s a sheep.  We no longer control the fire, the fire controls us.

Our confidence was shaken on September 11, 2001.  We were the victim of heinous crime.  The strongest nation in the world with the best security money could buy became a victim on the global stage.  What went wrong?  Attacks of this magnitude only happened in other countries.  The days of feeling safe and secure at home were gone forever.  But that’s not all that went wrong.

We were violated and we wanted to feel safe and secure once again.  In our haste we began to disregard the Constitution.  When you or someone you love is violated, you immediately look for better ways to protect them.  But at what cost, independence and the ability to think for yourself?

All the locks you can install and all the cameras you can mount will not stop a determined individual from gaining access or causing harm.  It will however, make the person you’re trying to protect feel like a prisoner.  Eventually you won’t trust the one you are trying to protect.   You’ve decided they aren’t capable of making decisions.  You decide when they come and go, whom they associate with and what they say and do.  It’s for their protection.

When your personal rights and space are violated, you feel defenseless.  Has your space ever been ransacked?  Were your belongings and personal papers ever searched and read without your knowledge?  When you realized something so sinister had taken place, did you discover anything missing?  Were you told you couldn’t have what was rightfully yours?  Has your activity ever been secretly monitored?  Have you ever been followed or tracked?  Has your mail been opened or your email password compromised?  Have you ever been told that you were given the opportunity to explain your private thoughts, feelings and ideas but you weren’t actually told that’s what you were supposed to do?  Go ahead, read that last sentence again, but it doesn’t get any clearer. 

This is where the “I’m not doing anything wrong so what difference does it make if I’m being watched,” argument receives a knock-out punch.  The one watching makes the rules.  You are viewed as suspicious because you aren’t following rules that were changed or penciled in without your knowledge.  Were you asked to agree to such ridiculous terms? No!  No one would agree to such scrutiny.  To make matters worse, you’re now expected to “clear things up” for the one who trespassed?  The victim has become the criminal. 

Continuous monitoring makes you feel like you’re going crazy.  You don’t want to believe it’s even possible because it’s so outrageous.  When it’s confirmed, it’s a mixed bag of emotions.  You’re relieved that you weren’t making it up; you’re not crazy after all.  Then the reality of it hits you.  You were being watched.  Your personal space was violated.  You became a target, the enemy.  Why?  Because you didn’t comply with the one who was watching.

Welcome to the new United States of America, the land where you are guilty until proven innocent.  If you’ve never experienced privacy violations, you’re in for a real treat.  It will leave you questioning yourself and your sanity.  If you have experienced privacy violations, you never want to experience it again.

The NSA has the ability to listen to every phone conversation, read every email and every text message.  They have partnered with tech companies and can track your purchases and interests while you’re on line or whenever you use a credit card.  Cameras are everywhere.  Up to 30,000 drones are expected to be in the sky within the next 10 years.  There are over 4,400 federal crimes currently on the books with more being added.  The president now has the power to act as judge, jury and executioner.

You still say you aren’t doing anything wrong?  What about tomorrow when the rules change and your once legal activity is now in question?

Similar offenses are stated in the Declaration of Independence.   What we don’t learn, we will repeat. 

Hillsdale College offers a wonderful online lecture series on the study of the Constitution.  I want to thank Frank Cereska who informed me of these lectures.  They are free but please consider a donation.

“The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they ought.”

Samuel Adams