Why we can't go back to business as usual post-PRISM

> One day they bitch about invasion of privacy the next day they want the same people to have every bit of control over their health care. Well guess what, you cannot have it both ways.

This is just as flawed as the arguments that giving the government access to your email is no big deal because you gave access to Google, and they're a massive organization too, right?

I have no problem with Medicare having access to the health records of every American. Single-payer healthcare is a great system. This is completely tangential to giving the NSA/FBI similar access to information.

Comparatively speaking, it might actually be more difficult for the NSA to get unwarranted access to government medical records, since we have extensive laws on the books protecting such data. Your argument is an absolute red herring.

Not sure why you're getting the downvote. This is obviously true.

It's also important to consider not just the size of the organization, but the nature and extent of its powers. For instance, Google - no matter how big - cannot arrest you, try you, convict you, or imprison you. Your health insurer isn't going to send the Marines to attack another nation, no matter how many doctors they have in their network. I could go on, but the point should be clear: military and law enforcement have a unique - and uniquely dangerous - set of powers. Accordingly, they operate under structures for accountability unlike those that exist anywhere else. The extraordinary trust they're given in some areas is balanced by a distinctly high and formalized level of distrust in others (e.g. actions that are subject to prior judicial review and approval).

So contrary to what you insist, we can give some powers to some organizations, withhold the same power from others. And we can base those organization's ability exist and operate legally on the degree to which they respect and abide by these divisions, and the rule of law.

When it turns out that (a) they don't and (b) we can't respond to these violations, it's a signal that the most basic arrangement keeping our society viable is coming undone. That's a problem that needs to be solves. But thanks to the principle of divided power, it doesn't mean we have to give up intelligent arrangements for sending email or handling health care data in order to keep the police and military in line.

"We need a peaceful solution for this. Vote these people away. Replace them by better people. Educate those who think they have nothing to hide."

I hate to sound pessimistic, but it is incredibly naive to even think this is possible.

> This system is bullshit.

Of course it is. It's bullshit because you have no responsibility in it. You've abdicated your democratic capabilities by saying, "Promise me the world, and I'll wait and watch to see if you give it to me."

You're just a face in the audience. Why would anyone give a shit about being accountable to you?

I know a couple of people that, for as long as I've known them, have been consumed by this idea of having to be able to defend yourself from an intrusive government. They, as one would expect, have gun safes full of guns of all types, piles of ammunition and other survivalist tools and equipment.

When the Newtown school massacre happened I actually called a friend in the Sheriff's department to ask if I should "drop a dime" on these guys. My argument was that, while they had never hurt anyone in their lives, perhaps they could one day blow a fuse and use their arsenal to kill innocent people.

This was a troubling call for me. I am not anti-gun at all. I don't happen to own any. Yet, I don't have any fundamental objections to law-abiding people owning them. The Newtown event rattled me as much as it probably did lots of people.

To my surprise my friend, the Sheriff, said not to worry. He went on to tell me that this sort of thing (stock-piling weapons and ammo) is very common. He said lots of cops do it. He went further and told me "we can find most of these people because they are being tracked one way or the other, whether they know it or not".

I didn't think much of that last statement until the latest government scandals started to surface, from the IRS targeting political groups (regardless of alignment, would you like it to happen to you in the future?) to this PRISM/surveillance mess. You now have to wonder where else the government is tracking us. Or, perhaps, the right question could very well be the opposite: Where are you safe?

All of a sudden these "nut-cases" who stockpile weapons and wake up every day thinking the government is out to get them actually have something to point to and say: "See, I told you so". I already got that call, BTW.

No, I am not going out to buy guns. Not interested. I have enough fun shooting them at the range. I don't feel I need to own any of them for any reason. But, you know, how can I now tell these guys they are insane for thinking the way they do?