Message for Freepers - Why Spying on Americans is a Bad Idea

[bleedingheart]

I have family that lived under the Communist government in Lithuania from the end of WWII until the Russians finally backed out and left them alone and I want to say that the American citizens who are ready to jump on the spy wagon should take a moment to think about this.

You see, in a country where we encourage the government to spy on everyone because everyone may be a terrorist will set up an atmosphere in which no one trusts one another and it creates opportunities for people to use it to their advantage...even your neighbor.

My mother visited family in Lithuania in 1979 and no matter where you went, you had to be careful that nothing uttered from your lips might be taken in the wrong way. Even though she was an American citizen who was just touring the country of her parents...she was at risk. She and my sister visited family and everyone spoke in hushed tones for fear that a neighbor might turn them in because an "american" had been visiting. They were happy to receive gifts of cigarettes and jeans but then they worried about how to hide them and how to distribute them among family because the presence of these gifts might evoke jealousy in a neighbor which might just prompt them to call the KGB and turn in someone based on false accusations...just because of petty jealousy...that is what living in a "spy-state" is really like.

You Freepers think that it won't happen here, but alas you will learn your lesson the hard way if Bush gets his way and they start targeting people....you see you think it will only be the liberals who he goes after but guess what? If you are a freeper who has been hoarding guns...they will know. If you are a freeper who is a bit too right wing or radical for even their tastes, they will know... If you are a bit too vocal about how the company screwed you out of your benefits....they will know...You see people in power don't even trust the people that vote for them because eventually they fear you may change your mind and if you are too heavily armed or someone they view as a bit too unreliable...you will become a target.

And remember this...eventually the spy game gets boring...loads of data, too much to sort through...so then they get lazy and they rely on "good americans" to turn in "terror suspects" or "unamerican activities"...and then you had better start looking over your shoulder because that neighbor who isn't so nice to you...may just turn you in before you turn him in...and guess what...Bush Inc. can lock you up without letting you even have access to counsel...and then it will be no different then living under the soviet dictatorship...it will just be a fascist dictatorship run by corporations...


This is why we need laws to protect citizens civil rights and liberties and why the Federal Government should lawfully obtain warrants to spy, arrest, or search for information!

[bluestateguy]

1. Good points, AND

I always ask my conservative friends if they would trust these same powers of the executive branch under a Democratic president. Hillary? Kerry? Mark Warner? How would you feel if a Democratic president used these powers to spy on anti-abortion groups as possible terrorists, or bug conservative think tanks, or eavesdrop on phone conversations of conservative columnists, or maybe stick conservative talk show hosts on no-fly lists. I actually could see some Democratic presidential contenders doing these things (though I won't mention names at this time).

Would you want such a person to have the same powers that you now defend for Bush? Your boy will not be president forever, nor will Republicans be president forever. The pendulum always swings back.

[bleedingheart]

3. thanks for adding those points as well...

I am a liberal democrat and I don't want any president, Democrat or republican, to have that kind of power to search and spy into people's lives.

I say if there is a reason to spy upon someone, then they better back it up with legal documents.

[baby_mouse]

2. They can't hear you.

You're criticising the government. They'll probably think you're just vicariously rebelling against your parents.

[bleedingheart]

4. funny thing is that they elect people to office who criticize government

all the time....Hell pRick Santorum's main talking point is how the government is bad for you...and how citizens need to be left alone....funny how when they find themselves in power...they change their minds.

[baby_mouse]

6. Uniforms make the most Freedom loving people come over all submissive

Maybe it's the shiny buttons.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. Very good points made here. I think the Freepers think that it's

only "bad guys" that are being spied on, but no one really knows. If we allow our government to illegally spy , for whatever reason, it will be so much easier to escalate the program in the future because a precedent has been set.