Why isn’t the NSA embarrassed?

Most of us agree that what the NSA has been doing is inexcusable. We’d expect our government to be pretty embarrassed about the whole thing, or at least I did. But they’re not, and I think people aren’t getting how important that is.

Even President Obama thinks that spying on Americans and lying about it is a great move, because, you know, terrorism. It’s clear that this isn’t up for discussion. The adults are handling things, and we should sit down and be quiet.

Here’s the problem. Governments should be “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”. Our government has made it plain that our thoughts aren’t welcome. They’re free to trample on our rights, and we’re free to shut up about it. That’s not so good.

But it’s okay, because we planned for this. The Declaration of Independence has a strategy for this problem baked right in. It’s simple and clear and easy to follow — anyone can do it!

But before I tell you about that, let’s think about the word “despotism” and what it means for a second. Despotism is a system of government under which the people are ruled by a singular entity. It’s the opposite of democracy, or “rule of the people”. When the government tells us that they’re free to do whatever they want no matter what we say, which does that sound like to you?

Now that we’re clear on that, here’s the plan, straight from the Declaration of Independence:

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Our ancestors warned us that sometimes governments will try to dominate the people and ignore their wishes. They told us in plain language that it’s our duty to overthrow those governments and create something new.

Pretty wild, huh? What do you think of that?