Edward Snowden and what he means for our Liberty

Edward Snowden had access to secrets about government snooping into the personal lives of Americans. He reportedly revealed those secrets in violation of the law and of his conditions of employment. There has been much discussion about whether he is a villain or a hero. One thing is clear: He showed us how hard it is to be a government employee or contractor with ethics and a respect for the limits the Constitution places on government power.

Having been carefully redefined by court edict, every one of the Bill of Rights means only what the central government says it means -- not what the founders intended nor what a reasonable person would think it means. The same is especially true for our Ninth-Amendment rights.

With our blessing, the president, federal courts, Congress, bureaucrats, and their state/local counterparts have steadily taken upon themselves powers never intended by the Founders and not authorized in the US Constitution. To justify their usurpation, they pontificate about a "living constitution." We have hundreds of thousands of pages of mala prohibita laws that often are unconstitutional, irrational, contradictory, and indecipherable. Government has grown to the point where there is almost one government employee for every 7 Americans!

A nation of sheep, we have just enough liberty and get to keep just enough of our own paychecks to keep us complacent and to keep us from revolting.

But, get out of line as did Snowden -- even something as "dangerous" as failure to pay taxes or a student loan or smoke a joint or blow the whistle on government -- you can expect storm troopers to bash your door in during the dark of night. These days, the only difference between government and gangsters is that one declares itself legal. Nobody dares defy the monstrous government we have voted for and get away with it. It is to be feared as much as Stalin's USSR or Mao's China.

Ya got enough government yet?

Some of us have been a consistent voice of warning of for years or even decades. Others are a voice of warning when somebody they didn't vote for is in power. Most of us are sheep no matter who is in power. Too may just want to go to the mall.

Some think I'm silly when I say that we need smarter voters!