General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Glenn Greenwald MUST be stopped. [View all]Erich Bloodaxe BSN
(14,733 posts)Our system of government requires that those actually in office be the ones who make the changes.
No reporter, no journalist, no blogger can actually make any changes. Their job is simply to make known things that are hidden to the rest of us, whether by distance, time, or deliberate actions to hide such. Greenwald has done his part of things, as has Snowden. Sure, there's probably more to be revealed, but apparently there's an enormous amount of material to sift through, and the people working on it don't have the manpower or budget of the NSA, so it takes them a lot longer.
Now the President is within the set structure of power that would allow changes to be made, and has various powers he could choose to use right now to make such changes, even if some of them were only guaranteed to stay done while he is in office. And he has the power to work with Congress to make further, more permanent changes.
But as you said, all we seem to be getting is some 'whitewashing legislation'.
Why? Because the folks who hold the levers of power - the President, the majority leaders of each house, the intelligence committees, all like things as they are. It's one of the inherent dangers of holding power. Those who have a lot of it feel they can be trusted with even more, and work to collect more power, in their minds 'to do their job better'. The President feels he has to 'protect America', and therefore is not willing to relinquish powers he has that he feels can potentially be helpful in doing so, even if they violate the privacy rights of hundreds of millions, probably because he feels people staying alive is more important than having their nude photos shared around by a bunch of young tech guys.
And that's the same trap too many of those in power fall into. They feel that 'keeping us safe' is actually more important than what they actually swore to do - upholding the Constitution, protecting and defending it. But protecting it IS protecting us.