Yes. It may not be as bad as described in Orwells' 1984 yet, but there is only one reason for secrecy: to keep people from knowing what you're really up to. Unfortunately, in a democracy also included with those suspicious "outsiders" is the citizenry, though we are of course assured this is for our protection. Without oversight there is no proof, only trust. This is a one-way road.
Ed Snowdon is being charged with spying for doing what journalists used to do, like expose government overreach. If he is a spy for exposing how much we citizens are being spyed upon then WE become the enemy of a security state. With secrecy addiction the end is totalitarianism. Without transparency democracy is eventually lost. We must realize that this is the road we are on. Ed Snowdon is simply doing the job that investigative journalists used to do before the market emasculated them.
This week I was thrown out of a parking lot where I was memorizing Shakespeare because I looked suspicious pacing back and forth. On the road to perfect security every act becomes suspicious! Fortunately we have not yet lost our democracy. We all must stand up for the constitution and the power of the people in the face of the creeping secrecy of the authoritarian state!
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Bob Dylan was reported by people in the neighborhood picked up by police on the New Jersey sea side for not fitting in. Not fitting in is illegal in this country. My friend who sent me the link wants me to move to Uruguay for this reason.
The young, female police officer answering the call took a raft of teasing when she reported back, "I'm supposed to ask if anyone knows Bob Dylan?"
On the other hand, in Seattle, my friend was staying late at a bar across from a parking lot. I went to pay for the space and the woman who owned the lot greeted me cheerfully. I told her I was going to sleep in my van 'til my friend came out and she said, "Hey, you've rented it 'til 7AM."
She was just happy I was paying the fee without giving her grief.
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