Farewell Fourth Amendment

A few years ago, the government’s involvement in monitoring all of our online and phone activities was exposed.  Every phone call, instant message, email, text, and pretty much any type of electronic communication is being recorded and monitored, always.  

The reasoning behind this began years ago to provide for the security of the country.  After the 9-11 attacks, the Bush administration passed laws that would allow them to perform wiretaps on suspected terrorists without having to obtain a search warrant. Even after 9-11, the country was in an uproar as the government was clearly bypassing citizen's Constitutional rights. This was a huge infringement of the rights clearly set forth by our Founding Fathers, even if the end goal was to keep us safe. President Bush was under attack and was frequently compared to Richard Nixon for his spying maneuvers. It wasn't long until people were calling for his impeachment over his evasive move to wiretap terrorists without a search warrant (ok, that isn't a really big thing though, opposing party followers are always calling for the impeachment of the current president).

With terrorist communications moving to the online world, the main method the NSA has to track the bad guys is through this universal monitoring (no joke, within seconds of typing NSA my computer froze-up and I had to reboot! Coincidence? Ok it was probably a coincidence.) (Maybe)  

Only a few years after President Bush started us down this slipper slope, then Senator Obama was running his campaign with promises of eliminating President Bush’s infringements on our liberties. The illegal wiretapping would be done away with! Once in office however, in lieu of removing this program, he amped it up to levels not imagined possible, even in the post-9-11 world.  

                              

I personally feel that this domestic espionage has reached a level that crosses the line of infringing upon the rights of Americans. The Founding Father’s felt that protection against undue infringement on the privacy of Americans was a must. It falls in the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights, immediately after bills that protect the freedom of religion, speech, bearing arms and quartering of troops (to be fair, there are efforts to get rid of the preceding portions of the Bill of Rights as well) To remind us....

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The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

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It really is crystal clear. You can argue that other parts of the constitution are being ambiguous, but not this one. The amendment is extremely clear - Americans are protected from searches unless a warrant has been issued with probable cause. Judges issuing orders in secret locked hearings behind closed doors giving you blanket permission to monitor all activity of every citizen is clearly unconstitutional. I do believe that "unreasonable searches and seizures" would encapsulate monitoring all of your communication, banking activity, gps location etc.

There is no warrant issued, supported by Oath or affirmation upon probably cause, to search every single electronic communication on every single person.

Even today, if the government thinks I'm cooking meth, housing martians or building missiles in my basement, they would need to get a search warrant to enter my home. If they want to monitor ever bit of communication and follow me on GPS, then they can do so without infringement. Does that make sense?

Obviously some level of monitoring is necessary to protect the country, but somewhere between the total elimination of the NSA and putting cameras, microphones and sensors in every room in every building in the country to constantly monitor for illegal activity, there has to be a happy medium. Now don't get me wrong, I really like the NSA, but I liked it more when I though they were spying on bad guys, not just spying on everyone.

Sure, government monitored cameras covering every inch of our country, would eliminate a certain level of crime, however, the loss of accompanying privacy and freedom convince most people that this is not a feasible option.

I believe monitoring all electronic communications passes into the realm which will end up leading us down a road where we do not want to go.  How long will it be until monitoring in the name of safety, leads our country into some Hunger Games type world?  (Yes I realize that sounds extreme but if the current rate of increasing control, debt and monitoring continues, we probably won't be too far off.)

It seems for some reason with politics, that we strongly side with the decisions of our preferred party. We support them 100%, hook, line and sinker regardless of their actions. People were calling for President Bush to be impeached when he wanted to perform wiretaps on terrorists. President Obama takes the training wheels off the program to a level of spying never before seen and those same people are silent.

Personally I don’t care for either president’s tactics. If there is an imminent terrorist threat, then I doubt setting up a wiretap, without waiting the short time for a judge to approve, is the answer. If a wiretap is needed then call the judge. Perhaps have judges on call at night so one can be obtained legally, oh ya they already do this.  

Regardless of your political affiliation, how do you feel about the opposing party having access to everything, and I mean everything you say or do? If the IRS can focus on auditing conservative groups, while a Democrat is in office, then what else might happen? How far down the road will it be until you are audited for not voting for the most popular candidate (or at least the one with access too all of the country's communications?) Maybe an audit should be the least of our worries. Just pick-up a history book and look at how so many countries retaliate, when citizens you don't agree with leadership.

How many countries, in the past century, would kill or imprison people for not agreeing with the majority? How long until our country takes actions against liberals under the pretend guise of being anti-America or against conservatives under the pretend guise of being racist? The rhetoric for both parties is already there, now do you want either of them to have access to your most intimate thoughts and communication? What type of action is that other party capable of? I'd rather now find out.

Universal domestic espionage is a clear infringement of the country's constitutional rights. It was in 2001 and it is today. Our Founding Father's knew first hand the dangers of living under oppression and did all they could to ensure our freedoms today. Why we try so desperately to shred the Bill of Rights is beyond me. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin and others fought for these things and fought for the Constitution to have a portion that protects the citizens of the United States of America! So much blood was spilled to give us the freedoms that politicians are trying to discard. Let us not throw our only protection, the amendments to the Constitution, to the wayside. Let us not give-up the power and protections that our forefathers fought and died for us to have!

God bless America!!

References

1) http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/08/opinion/zelizer-democrats-nsa-spying/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories#cnn-disqus-area

2) http://swampland.time.com/2013/07/03/fourth-of-july-pro-snowden-rallies-coming-to-a-city-near-you/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-thiessen-leaks-not-the-nsa-programs-deserve-condemnation/2013/06/10/e91d09ac-d1c9-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story_1.html