NSA is circling its wagons, in open defiance of Congressional concerns.

[JDPriestly]

35. There can be many reasons for secrecy in government.

For example, in a time of warfare, information on military plans are usually secret. But another reason for secrecy is less legitimate, and that is spying on one's own population when your country claims to be a democracy.

The NSA program is wrong and incompatible with democracy or with representative government of any kind because knowledge is power, and this spying program gives an elite group within the NSA knowledge about the personal lives of all Americans, including journalists and other members of the government including members of Congress and the judiciary.

Thus, a small elite within the NSA has, through its superior knowledge about others, set itself above all others, taken a position of power over others although that elite does not answer directly to the people.

That is why this program violates the Constitution in my view. The FISA Court is equally incompatible with democracy or representative government because of its secrecy. The Constitution states that we should have public trials. In theory, the FISA Court is not considering criminal matters, but the extent of this surveillance places that theoretical assumption in question. This comprehensive surveillance appears to treat all of us like criminals.