Government Surveillance Is a Dangerous Path to Trek – American Greatness

Big Brother is watching you appeared on billboards in George Orwells acclaimed novel, 1984, first published in 1949. Today, that ominous warning is rapidly becoming a reality.

In the past two decades, roughly since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has increased its surveillance of Americans to a level unforeseen, even by Orwell.

Whether it be the National Security Administration, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, or your supposedly benign local government, you are being watched and tracked at almost every turn.

Making matters even more harrowing, the advent of smartphones, GPS tracking devices, social media, and countless other new technologies has made it easier than ever for private corporations to track your every move, thought, and desire. Just think about it: your every text message, Google search, phone call, and email is stored somewhere.

And as we have seen in the recent past, the government is not shy about forcing companies to hand over their users most private data should they deem it necessary. Although there is a need for the work of the NSA, CIA, FBI, or whichever organization claims jurisdiction to access sensitive personal data in extreme cases, such as an imminent terrorist attack, common sense and reality shows that these omnipotent agencies have been more than willing to seek data and information that is well outside the bounds of these strict guidelines.

Fortunately, whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden, a former NSA employee, have exposed some of the surveillance-state actions perpetrated by his ubiquitous former employer. Who knows what is actually happening in the deep corridors of these agencies, however, under the auspices of national security?

Although technology per se is not the primary driver of the increased government surveillance weve all come to expect and accept today, it certainly makes it much easier for governments to monitor their citizens. From a historical perspective, the scourge of surveillance has been alive and well for centuries. The Soviet KGB and the East German Stasi are just two examples of the sordid history of government surveillance.

In perhaps the most ominous current case, consider Communist Chinas massive surveillance apparatus, where every citizen is monitored constantly. Chinas social credit system is the most all-encompassing and terrifying surveillance program in world history.

For better or worse, most Americans are not overly concerned with government surveillanceyet. When we hear about things like city cameras capturing our every move, however, we should definitely raise our eyebrows. Even worse, stories abound over seemingly innocuous government surveillance operations that continue to push the envelope while trampling upon privacy rights and individual liberty.

The U.S. Constitution protects our privacy rights for a reason. Before our victory over Great Britain in the War of Independence, Americans (or colonists as they were then known) were victims of British surveillance and spy networks. Indeed, a primary reason for going to war against the mighty British military was so Americans would be free from surveillance.

Yet, here we are, more than two centuries later, struggling to avoid the onset of our own surveillance state. Although numerous officials from NSA, CIA, FBI, etc. will claim surveillance is necessary to protect the homeland, this is a false choice.

Benjamin Franklin warned us, Those who give up liberty for security deserve neither. This may be more relevant today than ever before.

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Government Surveillance Is a Dangerous Path to Trek - American Greatness