Government Snooping: Peace and Safety, or a Loss of Liberty?

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Recent uproar over the methods of airport security, specifically the "touch and feel" tactics of the TSA, has begged Americans to ask where the fine line between security and loss of freedoms lies. In our quest to protect Americans from the Islamic threat of terrorism we have somehow mixed into the mess the ridiculous view that everyone is a potential terrorist, and therefore we should be frisking children, nuns, and little old ladies.

The concerns run deeper than inappropriate touching by TSA agents at the airport gate. Since 9/11, in an attempt to create a network intended to protect Americans, the government has been collecting data on more than mere terror suspects. The system collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Though the intention seems well and good, it opens the door for a big brother style governmental function.

How safe are we from a federal government that is collecting every piece of information about every person in the United States as they can? What happens if such a network of spy-data gets into the hands of an American leader that does not have the best intentions for the American Public at heart?

In an attempt to protect ourselves from the dangers outside our borders, we have to be careful not to welcome into our midst the enemy within.

Currently, in the name of protecting Americans, the spy network that has been growing within the United States since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, includes 4,058 federal, state and local organizations, each with its own counter-terrorism responsibilities and jurisdictions.

Technologies and techniques that were developed for use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have worked their way into the hands of domestic law enforcement agencies, for use against Americans. With this technology, the federal government is creating a database that is designed to eventually hold all of the names and personal information of countless Americans.

In an attempt to protect ourselves from the threat of Islam, we have literally opened up Pandora's Box for the Statists within our nation to use.

Which returns us to the question, "Where is the fine line between security and the loss of freedoms?"

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Govt 'creating vast domestic snooping machine' - Breitbart