General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: It's amazing that John Lewis can be so easily insulted by people hiding behind keyboards. [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)can disagree about Snowden but agree that this program is very dangerous to the ideals of democracy. It concentrates power in the hands of the very few who control and have access to the information generated by the computers that retrieve and analyze our metadata, the metadata of the computerized and electronic world.
This is the greatest threat we have known in modern times to our democratic ideals and our Constitution. There is no separation of powers with this program. There is only executive power. It does not make any difference who or from what party the executive is. With this comprehensive knowledge about the communications and relationships of people not just in the US but around the world, the NSA and the executive branch (perhaps not so much the president himself but a clique within the executive branch that informs and therefore can manipulate the information available to a sitting president) is the most powerful group in the world. It is like an information hydrogen bomb. That is what this program is akin to.
As I write this, someone is watching and collecting every word. What I am saying may not be said for much longer. It may become socially and politically to risky to express the abstract and essentially harmless words that I am putting on this website.
That is how dangerous this program is. It is in the hands of people who can wield enormous power if they wish, the power to aim and fire a drone, the power to inform an employer, the power to destroy documents, to make sharing secrets or confidences using electronic means of communication impossible.
So I hope that you understand why Snowden is not important and venting anger at Snowden is a waste of time. The issue is not Snowden but this vicious, subversive, dangerous program of surveillance in all its forms including the collection of metadata on a vast scale.