So I'm going to take a moment to weigh in on this whole NSA taking records of our information via telephone and internet thing. Look - like most of you, it's creepy to know that this stuff is being monitored, and beyond that, that it's law - meaning that our elected representatives passed a law at some point to make it completely legal for our government to do what they're doing. Now look I know that many can say that it goes far beyond the scope of the law as written - and, well, I can't argue against that. The laws, as written, for example - the Patriot Act - were worlds away in technology and those that passed the laws, I don't think, knew the type of world we'd be living in now, in this day and age.

With that said, I don't know where we go from here. WE, as a society, HAVE TO START HAVING THE CONVERSATION - a serious conversation, together, as one, about what liberties we're willing to give up for the sake of safety, or, phrased another way, what public safety deficits are we willing to tolerate? In either case, there are no easy answers, and nobody, NOBODY, is going to be happy. The government's obligation to keep us safe is going to be cried for when we have an incident in this country that they failed to keep us safe at - more people will cry "why wasn't more done?" Yet, in quiet times, like this, the government "spying" on us, like it is, creeps us out, and it infuriates us. But, as I said, WE, as a society, have to have the conversation.

Nothing frustrates me more than people in and around my life who take no active involvement in the government at hand, or politics, because it's "too complicated." And yes, you may very well have a right to not get involved, but damned you if you don't. You're the reason we are where we are at this point. If you haven't taken an active interest in what's going on with our elected officials over the course of the last fifty years - you're partly to blame. Yes, I said it - if you haven't taken some time to truly, actively, put yourself "in the know" and act as another form of "policing" the government, you've helped us to get to this point. It's a sad fact to know that even during presidential elections, only minorities of our citizens who are eligible to vote actually do. The rest - they "don't care" or just "go with the flow," and until something like this pops up, they could care less. That's not what our country is about my friends. Our country was founded on the principle of the people who live in it standing up for what they believe in, and putting leaders into office who stand for those principles too. Yet somewhere along the lines, we've become complacent in our duties as citizens of this country. We've become complacent in the very idea of freedom that we choose to define freedom as "not having to do something I don't want to do." Friends, freedom is not "not having to do something you don't want to do." No - freedom is victory of the tyranny of a ruling governmental body, allowing us to think for ourselves, and collectively make decisions as a society.

Yet - now, it appears, we've given that up. We've allowed our governing body, the elites, who've won the elections, not because of rigging, or fixed-elections, but merely because our general public is too lazy to take notice, the chance to take our very freedom from us and call it "legal." We are to blame for the paradox we are now in, and if we don't act now, and we don't start to make the decisions to fix the problem NOW, the problem will only grow. And we will have a future where the government can legally spy on us, can legally take our information and use it against us, and before we know it, George Orwell's vision of 1984 will become a reality 30 years later than he originally predicted in his book.

And while I'm at it - as far as Snowden, the guy who released this to the world to know and realize it was going on - he needs to be pardoned. He's not a traitor, he hasn't committed treason. He opened our eyes to something we all knew was happening but didn't want to admit. Shame on any prosecutor, congressman, senator, or executive branch official for pursuing him further. He should be hailed as a national hero who allowed us to start this conversation - not an enemy of the state.

And one more thing - I don't say this often, because usually I'm open and ready to listen to people of dissenting viewpoints - don't agree with me? Then keep it to yourself this time - because your very ability to disagree with what I'm saying is protected because people fought for our freedoms to have disagreements with each other and the government. So by disagreeing with my very premise, indirectly, you are agreeing with the idea that freedom should remain free, and thoughts and ideas should not be censored by the government.

Thank you for reading.
-Casey :)