Your thoughts on Snowden

[MTZehvor]

Calmador said:

I keep hearing people use the terrible quote of "Those who are willing to give up liberty for security deserve neither." Whoever said that was stupid and yes I know its one of our founding fathers. The truth of the matter is that in any community we do give up liberty for security. When you walk down a sidewalk instead of freelying running around on the roads... you sir or maam are giving up liberty for security. When you obey the traffic light system where you go when you see a green light or stop when you see a red light. You are giving up your liberty for security. When Americans use dog leashes on their children... you sir or maam are giving up liberty for security. lol

Quotes and sayings can sound nice but they can also be retarded in a logical sense.

I'll tell you what the most fundamental and true problem we have... its not privacy or security. The problem is morality and accountability. Can YOU trust your fellow Americans to handle your private information? We have banks, tellers, government officials, friends and family members who know who you are... can we trust each other? The bottom line and core problem is morality. Our individual character is what should be our #1 concern and then you won't be so worried about the man or woman next to you. You won't be so concerned with how little or how powerful government is... (I'm for small/weak government btw) We'll be more like a family. The lower,middle and higher class will be happier, richer, and live in lower crime rates because of this harmony.

I think the cause to all this is good character and morality. And that all starts with GOD. It all starts with accepting JESUS CHRIST as your Lord and Savoir.

The person you are referring to is Benjamin Franklin. I might add that the quote in question contains the phrase "essential liberty" instead of just "liberty." I highly doubt Benjamin Franklin would have objected to people waiting at stop lights, as the right to immediately travel wherever you want whenever is not what most people would classify as an essential liberty. The right to avoid having anything you say be monitored by the government? I believe Mr. Franklin would qualify that as an essential right, and the Bill of Rights seems to suggest so as well.

Certainly, accountability and morality are huge issues in America today. Both of these have been major issues in every country ever since the beginning of civilization, and as I'm sure you've noticed, no one's been able to find a solution to the problem yet. There will always be people who are willing to do what some would qualify as "evil" in order to get ahead of others in life. People will lie, cheat, steal, and break both laws and unspoken rules in order to get ahead. No one has been able to solve this problem. The worst side of human nature means that, if given an opening, some people will hurt others if they can benefit from it (and a subset of these people will do it even if there's no benefit to them at all).

If you want, you are welcome to stand there and point your finger at others for being immoral and the cause of trouble in our society. However, the reality is that it doesn't matter how much you point your finger; people will continue to be immoral regardless of what you do. The role of government, and part of our task as citizens, is to try and form a system of laws that best deals with human brokenness without giving so much control to the ones making the rules that they themselves become corrupt. 

Try as we might, we will never be able to fix human immorality. All we can do is build a system of government around said immorality and make the best out of a situation that will admittedly never be perfect.