Who trusts those who have betrayed you?

Responding to a Roger Simon essay about Islamofascism and the NSA (he’s supportive), Glenn Reynolds remarks:

The problem is, it’s hard to trust the people who are supposed to use that data to protect us to do so, when they abandoned their own in Benghazi. And it’s hard to trust them not to use that data to oppress us, when they’ve already abused their powers that way in other connections. Which is why abuse of power is itself a kind of treason: It weakens the fabric of the nation like nothing else, by undermining the trust that is essential for the system to work.

That’s the point. The actual chances of being killed by a Muslim on Jihad are quite small. The chances of being targeted by the government seem to be bigger, especially since the government seems to operate with impunity and with the support of the Liberal establishment. At least when the Islamofascists set off a bomb in Boston most people react negatively (even if some fell in love with the bombers). On the other hand, when the Tea Parties across the land were being harassed by the IRS, the press didn’t care and after the truth was revealed the press and much of the rest of the Left thought they had it coming. If this government decides to find a way to ban Rush Limbaugh I’m confident that they will have the support of the MSM.

 

 

A final point for Mr. Simon: the NSA has been gathering information for years yet the Tsarnaev brothers were not intercepted even though they had been identified by the Russians as violent extremists and Major Nidal was not detected even though his calling card identified him as a “Soldier of Allah.” The NSA apparently didn’t alert Obama to the fact that the Benghazi attack had nothing to do with a demonstration or with a cheesy video as his administration claimed. The NSA can't even keep a high school drop out from getting its hands on its data.  At this point the NSA program seems to be more effective at identifying Americans who disagree with the administration than with actual physical threats to Americans.