The citizens of the U.S. are neither organized enough, sufficiently intelligent and motivated, to keep the various levels of government in check.
As we have seen with the Epstein stuff, even when the evidence is overwhelming and unambiguous there is massive amount of direct support and an accompanying vacuum of response
The only conclusion to be had is: Everyone is ok enough with the state of reality that they will not change it.
> The citizens of the U.S. are neither organized enough, sufficiently intelligent and motivated, to keep the various levels of government in check.
Isn't this basically the job of Wyden and his colleagues in our republic? If your critique is that his colleagues are doing a poor job of it (or worse, they're actively working against it), I'd agree but would add that inherent flaws in both the pre and post- civil- war-system have brought us to such a point. IMO the citizens of today are less to blame than the people who passed laws like the Permanent Apportionment Act in 1929, or who've consistently defunded education systems across the country, etc.
That's not to say that today's citizens are helpless or blameless, of course.
I think classified wrongdoings at national intelligence agencies like the CIA fit right in on Hacker News. In the US, few politicians go as far as Wyden to hold such intelligence agencies accountable. (Semantics note: most employees of government agencies are not politicians.) You can't expect whistleblowers and non-government hackers to do all the work.
Perhaps posting this article was premature, because the classified wrongdoings Wyden concerns himself with today remain unknown. I find Edward Snowden's leaks of classified documents about NSA surveillance relevant to Hacker News, so if you can overlook the boring present, feel free to treat TFA as a brief reminder of an interesting yesteryear:
> Apparently, one of the things that reportedly pushed Snowden to leak was watching then Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, lie to Wyden’s face in a hearing about whether the NSA was collecting data on millions of Americans.
The original title is:
> The Wyden Siren: Senator's Cryptic CIA Letter Follows A Pattern That's Never Been Wrong
Well, at least he's concise.
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/wyden_letter_to_d...
I feel bad for guys like Wyden.
The citizens of the U.S. are neither organized enough, sufficiently intelligent and motivated, to keep the various levels of government in check.
As we have seen with the Epstein stuff, even when the evidence is overwhelming and unambiguous there is massive amount of direct support and an accompanying vacuum of response
The only conclusion to be had is: Everyone is ok enough with the state of reality that they will not change it.
Everyone gets the governance they deserve
> The citizens of the U.S. are neither organized enough, sufficiently intelligent and motivated, to keep the various levels of government in check.
Isn't this basically the job of Wyden and his colleagues in our republic? If your critique is that his colleagues are doing a poor job of it (or worse, they're actively working against it), I'd agree but would add that inherent flaws in both the pre and post- civil- war-system have brought us to such a point. IMO the citizens of today are less to blame than the people who passed laws like the Permanent Apportionment Act in 1929, or who've consistently defunded education systems across the country, etc.
That's not to say that today's citizens are helpless or blameless, of course.
Flagged as politics. Let's keep this place focused.
I think classified wrongdoings at national intelligence agencies like the CIA fit right in on Hacker News. In the US, few politicians go as far as Wyden to hold such intelligence agencies accountable. (Semantics note: most employees of government agencies are not politicians.) You can't expect whistleblowers and non-government hackers to do all the work.
Perhaps posting this article was premature, because the classified wrongdoings Wyden concerns himself with today remain unknown. I find Edward Snowden's leaks of classified documents about NSA surveillance relevant to Hacker News, so if you can overlook the boring present, feel free to treat TFA as a brief reminder of an interesting yesteryear:
> Apparently, one of the things that reportedly pushed Snowden to leak was watching then Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, lie to Wyden’s face in a hearing about whether the NSA was collecting data on millions of Americans.