Most
of us agree that what the NSA has been doing is inexcusable. We’d
probably expect our government to be pretty embarrassed about the whole
thing, or at least I did. But they’re not, and I think people aren’t
getting how important that is.
Even President
Obama thinks that secretly expanding government power to spy on
Americans and lying about it is a great move, because, you know, terrorism. It’s pretty clear that this isn’t up for discussion. The adults are handling things, and we should sit down and be quiet.
Here’s the problem.
Governments are supposed to be “deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed”, or so we said in the Declaration of
Independence. Our government has made it fairly clear that our thoughts
aren’t welcome. They’re free to trample on our rights, and we’re free to
shut up about it. That’s not so good.
But
it’s okay, because we planned for this. The same Declaration of
Independence has a strategy for this very problem baked right in. It’s
simple and clear and easy to follow — anyone can do it!
But
before I tell you about that, let’s think about the word “despotism”
and what it means for a second. Despotism is a system of government
under which the people are ruled by a singular entity. It’s the opposite
of democracy, or “rule of the people.” When the government tells us
that they’re free to do whatever they want no matter what we say, which
does that sound like to you?
Now that we’re clear on that, here’s the plan, straight from the Declaration of Independence:
But
when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it
is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to
provide new Guards for their future security.
Our
ancestors warned us that sometimes governments will try to dominate the
people and ignore their wishes. They told us in plain English that it’s
our duty to overthrow those governments and create something new.
Pretty wild, huh? What do you think of that?
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