melcheer9293

What do you think is the most effective way to force the government to change its ways when it comes to the surveillance state?

Thank you so much for the substance of this response and for even taking the time to do something like this.

Incentives. The Democratic party had the incentive to pander to the idea of civil liberties when Bush overstepped them so drastically that hardly anyone could deny it. The Democratic Party, and any politician within it (or any party), does absolutely nothing out of the kindness of their own heart. That is the first thing you must realize before you set out to influence politics. The only way that Democrats will act like what we think Democrats are ideally (when contrasted with Republicans) is by holding them accountable through massive, direct action. The incentives are stacked way in favor of the status quo, which is why a right-wing movement like the Tea Party can gain power so easily. It reinforces everything in power and simply escalates the speed to which people in power want to screw us. Politicians are never going to help us because they like us. They're going to help us because we rise up and make it in their best interest to do so. That requires a lot of work.

I think he gave everything to Greenwald and another jouranlist already and hasn't actually leaked anything since then. The stream of releases has been the journalists' method of choice to release the documents. I seem to remember Greenwald saying there is more to come.

boo