Orwell Was Right: The NSA Spying Program

Greetings all!

This is the second part of my promised political work this week, this time focusing more on American politics rather than an international issue. Tonight, I zero in on a massive scandal for the current government in the United States, specifically the NSA spying program.

For those unaware, the National Security Administration has been secretly listening in on millions of Americans’ phone calls, and has been accessing the online activities and records of Americans as well. This apparently goes fairly far back, as revealed by leaker and former CIA employee Edward Snowden. The intelligence community, from the FBI to the Department of Homeland Security, has been pushing for these measures ever since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The extensive spying program has been committed through the use of PRISM, and has been flawlessly passed by the legislative and executive branches.

While many groups including libertarians and tech giants like Reddit alike oppose this spying program, it has received clear support from Congress and the presidency (at most times), forcing both presidents Bush and Obama along with many members of Congress to defend their legitimacy. The most common argument made can be summed up in the words of Senator Lindsey Graham, who has claimed that as long as we have nothing to hide, we should have nothing to reasonably fear.

This argument, while sound on the surface (for a moron), is so flawed in its tenets that it makes me fear Graham even more than the NSA. For a point of reference, I’ll be referring to the novel 1984 by George Orwell, a prominent British author and socialist. In said book, the government maintains a constantly-monitoring state apparatus in order to assure absolute peace (read: complacence) among the populace it rules over. All aspects of society are penetrated by the authority of Big Brother, the man in charge sometimes seen as more of a force than a person. That force being, of course, fear. Fear of the common citizen which can instill thoughts of change in his brothers and sisters, fear which keeps freedom and knowledge out of the hands of everyone. Fear, being the only reason I started writing in this capacity in the first place.

How Graham and other members of Congress see no connection between the NSA and 1984 is baffling. These people claim to be the bastions of the American constitution, and yet it seems most of them are unfamiliar with the 4^th Amendment, which guarantees safety from unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause. This also applies to the states, as required by the due process clause of the 14^th Amendment. They seem to forget the unalienable right to privacy of American citizens, guaranteed by several court cases throughout our history. From Katz v. United States to Kyllo v. United States, our judiciary and legal system has guaranteed a reasonable right to privacy on the part of all Americans.

But let’s take the time to address these silly arguments. Let’s say that you have absolutely nothing to hide on your computer or phone records. You commit no illegal activities online; you pirate no music or other legal property, you never access illegal pornography, etc. You are an exemplary American, one who follows all laws to the dot. You should still be angry at having your privacy violated. Not because you are afraid of what might be found, but because you are afraid it is happening in the first place. Your basic constitutional and intrinsic rights are being infringed unlawfully, and no person should have to undergo such treatment without good reason.

But what of terrorists and other criminals, the police-state-backers cry? How else are we to catch these threats to our civil society? While how we approach the War on Terror is an honest debate we can have, monitoring the internet and phone records is a failed method of doing so. If we need NSA spying to stop events like 9/11, why didn't we stop it? If we need NSA spying to stop horrors like the Boston Marathon Bombing, why didn't we stop it? If NSA spying is so necessary, why is it so crappy at doing what it has been sent out to do in the first place? The simple answer to this question is because it cannot prevent these attacks on America. We often claim that terrorists hate us because of our freedoms; we cannot defend ourselves from them by taking away the freedoms we claim to love.

So, what do we do now? How can we restore our freedoms, bring back the great democracy we once were in the past? Clearly, one of the things we can do immediately is dissolve the NSA and destroy PRISM. Not only do the actions of the NSA call into question how our government treats and views its own citizens, it calls into question how willing we are to protect the democracy our founders fought and died to bring forth. The very thought that we are all being watched should make us sick and angry beyond belief. We must also pardon Snowden, the hero who brought these revelations to light. Ultimately, though, this is not enough. It should be clear to us by now that the War on Terror has done little to root out terrorism in the world. Instead, the War on Terror has created the world’s creepiest security apparatus, a branching effort to extend control over America and, eventually, the world. This seething mass of profit, fear, and weaponry sprouts forth from our government through our own ignorance and laziness. There is something we can do: destroy the DHS. While it is awkward to be in agreement with conservatives for me, I agree that we must attack our problems at their root. We do not need a whole portion of the executive branch to protect ourselves, especially when the DHS is making us feel less secure all on its own.

That’s all for tonight, and I hope everyone will forcefully remind our representatives of the freedoms we deserve as I have. Your feedback in comments is encouraged, and I can be reached through my email at zerospintop@live.com, or my Facebook, Twitter, Google+, DeviantArt, Tumblr, Steam, and Reddit accounts. Good night, and this is KnoFear, signing off.