Imagine, if you will, the cookie jar full of fresh-baked cookies sitting on the counter. Imagine, if you will, your mother telling you to keep your grubby mitts out of the cookie jar and then leaving you in the kitchen while she busies herself with housework. How long will it be before you sneak a cookie?
Imagine, if you will, the continued collection of tidbits of telephone, computer, email and text message data. Imagine, if you will, government rules saying you cannot touch the treasure-trove of information without "approval." How long will it be before you sneak an unapproved look?
I'm not naive enough to suggest that we should bury our collective heads in the sand when it comes to national security. I'm also not naive enough to believe that this Administration has not been seeking ways to use this information to "get even" with its perceived enemies; by their actions with the IRS and the Justice Department they have already had their hands in that cookie jar.
There are, justifiably, Constitutional limits on the ability of the government to snoop without "due cause." Our forefathers had their own experiences with cookie jars and they were wise enough to understand what dangers there are in the ability for unlimited snooping into citizens' affairs.
Let's cut the spin and hyperbole and get back to the Constitution. If you see the need to change it, change it; otherwise, follow it or subject yourself to legal consequences.
Illegitimi non carborundum.
That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.
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