Once again our great nation proves that we, the simple people on the street, cannot be trusted with the truth. We can pay our taxes and go to the polls and elect those called “elected representatives,” but we can’t be trusted with the truth. Is it any wonder we have a nation divided between those that “have and those that have not”? It isn’t just money or wealth, privilege or power, it can be much simpler than those more obvious measures. It can take the form of something simple like the right to privacy or just simple faith in our government.
Isn’t it likely that the closer you are to the top levels of government, the less likely you are to be a◊ected by the intrusions on one’s life? Who would question a senator or a member of the House of Representatives purchasing a fi rearm?
Who would try to wiretap (gather personal information or telephone calls) on elected national leaders and use the information as our current government obsession proves they can do to you and me. Is the exposure of our telephone tapping capability by Edward Snowden all that bad?
The following is a very simple example but could, emphasis on could, actually happen. As I have written previously, one of my daughters-in-law was bornin Taipei, Taiwan, and now lives in Wisconsin. Her position with the college which employs her has a sister school relationship with several high schools and universities in China and other nations in Asia.
She has an absolute wealth of educational contacts in Asia. This requires travel to China frequently and other countries occasionally. My cell phone is Verizon based, not hers. We now know the government is collecting data on cell phone calls in our nation’s war against terror and apparently one of the key triggers is telephone calls from outside the United States - to U. S.
telephone numbers or vice versa. Maybe they, the government, collects data from all cell phone and landbased phones. Does this mean I could be targeted for talking to her when she makes her overseas trips?
Are they observing how frequently she and I communicate and the topic of our conversation? It might be interesting to the government to know that my 14-year-old grandson is studying the martial arts and frequently travels with his mother to Asia.
Do we have to fi nd theFBI knocking on our door to know what “can or could” happen? So far there is no indication that there has been any problem with this hypothetical example.
But, how does one know until it is too late? Does an IRS audit come as a routine follow-up to international phone call questions? Where does all this end for a private citizen if someone is triggering the wrong key? Am I paranoid or is the individual working for a private contractor trying to be “noticed” the one who is paranoid? This is where we have to question the value of our privacy and what else, as yet unexposed, is going on in our government? Where and when does it end?
A survey reported on television news by more than one network indicated that almost two-thirds of those surveyed did not trust our government, did not think the gathering of telephone data improved our nation’s security and wanted more control on how the agencies a◊ected could gather information.
Do you suppose Washington (our government) actually cares what you and I think
An interesting interview aired on June 12, 2013, on the Fox News Channel’s America’s Newsroom had as a guest former U.S. Attorney General AlbertoGonzales. He was being interviewed concerning the government’s role in this question and when asked about the current Attorney General’s role he carefully avoided condemning him specifically about his inconsistent testimony. In the course of the interview they played a sound bite of a previously recorded statement by Vice President Biden when, as a senator, he wanted no part of the legislation that authorized the collection of this telephone data. Of course, now he views it as a necessity in the interest of our national security. When the interviewer questioned the inconsistency in Senator Biden and Vice President Biden’s comments, the former Attorney General’s comment was “the level of hypocrisy in Washington knows no limits.”
Knowing that he is correct and believing that our nation is losing its conscience, what do I, as a simple man on the street, do?
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Editor’s note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. He is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected]. The opinions of the writer are his own, and are not necessarily those of The Times.
Opinion, Pages 4 on 06/19/2013