E Pluribus Unum

Where we came from...

1. First they said they always got a warrant before wire-tapping anyone.
   
2. Next, they said that they didn't need a warrant because they were wire-tapping calls where one party was in another country.
   
3. Soon after, they said sometimes they wire-tapped domestic calls but only when they were talking about al-Qaeda.
   
4. Then they said they were looking at all records of all calls to and from all Americans.
   
5. Now they're saying that they are surveilling the calls of reporters to discover who their sources are.

Along the way, they've resisted submitting this program to any kind of judicial review. Congress is a rubber stamp and has declined to exercise any kind of oversight or investigations or budgetary restrictions on the Executive branch. And this all comes during a time when it is acceptable for the Executive branch to arrest of American citizens without stating the charges against them, hold them indefinitely and without access to legal counsel. Dissenters are accused of being terrorist sympathizers. Whistleblowers fear for their job security. The traditional media has develped a case of Stockholm Syndrome.

And 70% of the American public believes we're on the wrong track and worse off since George W. Bush became president.

What's wrong with this picture?