As Our Privacy Swirls Down the Drain...

The main topic of the article is the recent swirl of news about the federal government collecting data about citizen's personal phone calls. The callout for the article cites "The White House's defense of the latest telephone data examination case is that consumers have no expectation of privacy for telephone numbers and call lists." As a libertarian I find this offensive. But I think there are many folks out there who might have no problem at all with this.

One of the common lines of thinking goes something like this --> "If you aren't doing anything illegal, then you don't have anything to worry about." I find this naive. Personal liberty and freedom are the hallmarks upon which the USA was built. And now we find technology and jackbooted thugs gleefully trampling over the Bill of Rights under the absurd notion that privacy must be sacrificed to combat terrorism.

Citizens must stand up and voice umbrage at having our rights so wantonly trampled on. If we sit by idly and let such brazen attacks on our personal liberties and freedom go by uncontested then we will find ourselves living in a dystopian world not unlike that depicted by George Orwell in 1984. And it might be you who ends up uttering a phrase like "we are the dead."

In closing, please read and seriously consider this wise quote from one of the USA's founding fathers:

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, 
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." 
-- Ben Franklin