General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can it ever be a crime to expose gov acts that are UNCONSTITUTIONAL? Daniel Ellsberg - VIDEO [View all]ProSense
(116,464 posts)"No, it is not a crime to expose violations of the Constitution by those who took an oath to protect them. It is the duty of every citizen to report such crimes. Bad laws should not be obeyed by good citizens. When good citizens ignore bad laws and do what is right, good things happen. See the Civil Rights Movement eg. "
...here is "Movement." Advocating that people subjectively ignore laws is fairly absurd. Should people stop paying taxes because they believe the IRS is unconstitutional? Should Republican Governors ignore the health care law and Medicaid expansion because they believe it's unconstitutional?
There is a process in place for determining whether laws are unconstituional. Laws can be challenged, but breaking or ignoring laws based on subjective criteria like your opinion is not that process.
The current actions were lawful, and have not been officially challenged as unconstitutional. In fact, if the program doesn't target Americans as the administration claims, it would not be considered unconstitutional. It's the notion of spying on Americans that people are using as the basis for declaring the law unconstitutional.