Ronald Bailey Argues that Secret Government Is the Chief Threat to Liberty
Terrorism is the weapon of failed causes. Terrorists are no threat to freedom unless we allow ourselves to be stampeded by fear into ceding more power to government in a vain search for security. Unfortunately, this is what happened here after the 9/11 atrocities. We now know thanks to the revelations of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden just how big and intrusive the national security surveillance state has grown since 2001. Last Friday, President Barack Obama promised to rein in the National Security Agency's mass surveillance program that collects the phone records of every American. Reason Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey points out that major civil liberties groups think that Obama's reform promises don't go nearly far enough to protect us from the abuses of secret government.
