I think the founding principle of the United States is the truth that governments cannot be trusted. Historically, governments represent, at best, a necessary evil. At worst they destroy human society utterly in a maelstrom of corruption and power abuse.
The founding fathers (imperfect as they were) put an incredible amount of effort into defining a rigorous checks and balances system. These were people who rebelled against the tyranny of "divine rule" and the right of monarchs to wield supreme executive power.
They could not have anticipated the tyrannies we have to rebel against, but it's our turn. Privacy is not even defined as an explicit right in the United States constitution - this is not because it isn't lawful, but because it is deservedly a proposition not requiring proof.
I'm not suggesting a revolution, but the United States government has devolved from the ideals it once represented. Surveillance of this magnitude and breaches of constitutional right (in the spirit of the law, and in the spirit of fundamental propositions) would never have been done by the fledgling American state.
That would be more closely characterized as the sort of injustice that caused our revolution. We need to bring the government back into alignment with its historical ideals of liberty - the zeitgeist of "land of the brave and home of the free" is no longer ours to claim if we don't have the courage to demand our liberty.
The founding fathers (imperfect as they were) put an incredible amount of effort into defining a rigorous checks and balances system. These were people who rebelled against the tyranny of "divine rule" and the right of monarchs to wield supreme executive power.
They could not have anticipated the tyrannies we have to rebel against, but it's our turn. Privacy is not even defined as an explicit right in the United States constitution - this is not because it isn't lawful, but because it is deservedly a proposition not requiring proof.
I'm not suggesting a revolution, but the United States government has devolved from the ideals it once represented. Surveillance of this magnitude and breaches of constitutional right (in the spirit of the law, and in the spirit of fundamental propositions) would never have been done by the fledgling American state.
That would be more closely characterized as the sort of injustice that caused our revolution. We need to bring the government back into alignment with its historical ideals of liberty - the zeitgeist of "land of the brave and home of the free" is no longer ours to claim if we don't have the courage to demand our liberty.