Obama Was Wrong: NSA Employees Have Deliberately "Abused" Their Power - Slate

[woo me with science]

19. "Proof," as they construe it, is irrelevant anyway.

It's absurd to insist on "proof" of abuse before denying government access to powers that are clearly ripe for abuse. The spying itself is abuse of power.

The Founders knew this. That's why the Bill of Rights focuses on what the government may NOT do. That's why the spying is wrong and unconstitutional, even if we didn't have a shred of proof of abuse beyond the egregious abuse of spying in the first place. History is clear that offering opportunities for abuse of power inevitably leads to abuses of power.

This situation is not analogous to a human defendant in court who deserves presumption of innocence until proof of guilt is determined and corrective action may be taken. This is about creating governmental structures that wield power over millions of human lives. The bias should always go toward limiting highly "abusable" powers from the start, and maintaining constant vigilance, transparency, and skepticism to ensure that abuses don't begin to grow. That's why we have a Fourth Amendment that prohibits this garbage in the first place.