I keep reading letters (scroll to bottom of page in the link) to the editor in the O that support the NSA's warrantless spy operations with a stupid and dangerous argument. The argument goes something like this: Hey, credit card companies do it, phone companies do it, pharmaceutical companies do it... for cryin' out loud, everyone has information about all of us... you can purchase it, you can look it up on the Internet, it's all over the place. So what's the big deal if the government collects all the same info on us?
I'm certainly not thrilled that all these corporations know that I watch The Office every Thursday night and that I grocery shop at Food Front and New Seasons Market, or that I make financial contributions to the Bus PAC, but do I want the government to know that? Look, the government is not, I repeat NOT a corporation. There seems to be some confusion between the two these days. Corporations are NOT put in place by and for the people. The government is. The government's duty is to uphold the Constitution, which has a Bill of Rights. In that Bill of Rights there is the Fourth Amendment, which advocates of presidential authoritarianism seem to think is dated, or perhaps "quaint."
I wonder if those who believe the false argument that government collection of personal info is no different than corporate collection of personl info, and therefore harmless to the state of our constitutional democracy, will feel the same way if H.C. becomes president with Democrats in control of Congress. Hmmm... I wonder.