'I Have Been to the Darkest Corners of Government, and What They Fear Is Light'

[JDPriestly]

177. You have just made my argument.

"Fear of the unknown is not a good way to function day-to-day, IMO. "

What is wrong with the NSA surveillance programs is that they are based on a vague fear of the unknown. Anyone who associates in the slightest with someone they have arbitrarily placed on their list of suspects of something, we really don't know what, is suspect enough to be placed under surveillance. They collect massive, massive amounts of data on all kinds of people, the vast majority of whom have no inclination to do anything wrong.

The NSA surveillance is strictly governed by fear of the unknown. They certainly would not expend so much energy, money, resources and good will if they focused on known threats.

Our Constitution requires a warrant based on probable cause in order to obtain very personal information about and from Americans precisely in order to prevent our government from harassing us and gathering information about us without our consent and based on simply fear of the unkown.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment

The massive acquisition of electronic data on each of us is unreasonable and not "based on probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

There is no way that the massive collection of electronic communications data complies with the Fourth Amendment. And the Fourth Amendment is just one of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that the surveillance violates. The programs as applied to Americans are anathema to the American way of life, to freedom for citizens, to democracy or any kind of representative government. It is based on an irrational "fear of the unknown." You said it well. If my ancestors had allowed the fear of the unknown to decide for them whether to settle in new territories in the new America way back when, we would not be a country that stretches from sea to sea. This irrational fear of each other will ruin our country. It already is making everyone suspicious of each other and harming us.