Josh Marshall on Edward Snowden

[frazzled]

5. If there were widespread abuses, as Snowden claims (without any specifics)

it seems to me we'd know about it. We'd hear burgeoning reports of people being "disappeared." We haven't. We'd see equally widespread prosecutions; we haven't (to my knowledge). Seven years hasn't turned up much except the newly revealed FISA warrant (an improvement over the Bush years, when the administration thought FISA warrants were unnecessary).

This is an aspect of the story that has been little discussed or analyzed. There are two areas to ponder:

(1) What harm has come to US citizens as a result of data mining? We can only look to evidence of actual acts on the part of the government, such as secret detentions and/or prosecutions based on information gleaned from the programs. So far, no evidence has come to light, though I wouldn't be surprised if handful of misdirected questionings have occurred.

(2) What potential harm could there be in the future? This, of course, is what everyone fears and is thinking about. Some kind of Stasi operation; people being sent to the Gulags for their thoughts. I find this highly improbable in our system of government. A dictator on the order of a Stalin would be difficult to achieve here, given the balance of powers. Of course, if it DID happen, this would be the least of our worries. We'd be so fucked anyway.