"What the government is hiding from you," Carson Wright, 5th Period

The U.S. Department of Justice is set to release much more information regarding legal opinions about the National Security Agency's "alarming surveillance operations." This should anger Americans who are already upset at the disclosure of a 2011 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinion, which says that the NSA's operations are unconstitutional. According to this article's author, Americans should be most infuriated by the fact that the government hid these legal opinions from the national eye for so long. This is "inimical to our democracy." Author Mark Rumold explains that the Electronic Frontier Foundation--his workplace--has been fighting the government on legal opinion disclosure for some time, and that the EFF sued the Department of Justice in 2012 after they refused to release such information. Apparently the government did respond with records in 2013 to the lawsuit, but according to Rumold, it was "nothing." The EFF, says Rumold, and many other organizations have been fighting for basic facts from government officials such as Gen. Michael Hayden for years; he says we need the facts, "and we need them now." Rumold says we've been lied to for too long and that it's time to have the full NSA surveillance story.

This article was written by someone who, ostensibly, at least, is not new to this NSA scandal. Mark Rumold is a staff attorney at the above mentioned EFF, which "champions the public's digital rights," according to the Editor's Note. He vehemently expresses his fury with the government and the Department of Justice, as they have kept Americans in the dark about NSA operations for an extended period of time. This article was written a few days ago; the NSA scandal, though still quite an issue, has been overshadowed by other issues that the media chooses to focus on, making his anger seem rather--ever so slightly--abrupt and untimely. I knew not that the actions of the Department of Justice described in this article were so, and I agree with him: we should have all the facts (should we, though, depending on the state of national security? To be considered). It seems Rumold hopes to enkindle some hearty outrage in the public, but as I said above, he's a little late--although, based on the comments, he has a goodly sum of supporters. And although I do wish to focus on the political content of an article rather than its tone or style, I must say: this reeks of the "big bad government" notion, that Plato's Cave of Illusion is a perfect representation of modern, democratic American government. Is it bad that we didn't know as much as we did about all of this? Yes, probably. It it as bad as Rumold and other opponents of "big government" make it seem? No. These operations are here for a reason, and not a bad one. When such operations are carried out, it is because of national security concerns, and said operations have indeed protected national security. Perhaps it is rather socialistic, in that everyone must sacrifice a little--the tiniest bit--of individualism for the sake of all society; but a little democratic socialism, here and there, is really quite good for us. And as for those who cry at the supposed breach of privacy: what have you to hide?

Article: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/06/opinion/rumold-fisa-court-nsa/index.html?hpt=us_mid