We have long discussed the erosion of civil liberties in the United States, including the attacks on privacy and other rights by the Obama Administration. It appears that we are not alone in those concerns. A new Gallup poll shows a record drop in the satisfaction of Americans over their freedoms. The massive drop is matched in such countries as Egypt, Pakistan, and Venezuela.
Seventy-nine percent of US residents are satisfied with their level of freedom. That is down from 91 percent in 2006 — a 12 point drop. We were once the highest country in the world on such polls. We have now dropped to 36th place.
That mirrors other studies showing the United States dropping to the same low levels on press freedoms, Internet speech, and other rights.
The White House has been adept in deflecting such criticism with a host of commentators and bloggers who deflect criticism with references to Republicans and the “red menace” or “things could be worse” spin or simply change the subject. However, the expansion of the internal security network in the United States and police powers is obviously having an impact on how Americans now view their rights. Years ago, I wrote a column entitled “10 Reasons Why The United States Is No Longer The Land of The Free.” Things have only grown worse since that column ran. The Obama Administration’s recent effort to strip citizens of privacy protections over their cellphones and records illustrates the extremism of some of these positions. That argument failed to secure a single vote on the Supreme Court for the Administration’s effort to blow a hole in American privacy protections.
The poll on the eve of the Fourth of July captures the dire condition of American civil liberties today. As I wrote years ago, Obama has been a disaster for the American civil liberties movement and the damage done under his tenure will be felt for decades. What is most distressing is that citizens see the decline but feel virtually powerless to do anything about it due to the duopoly of power in this country. Even with universal calls for change, the two parties are again recycling many of the same figures and same policies as prior years. Polls of this kind show a deep sense of dissatisfaction among Americans but also a complete lack of expression of those views through political channels. That is a dangerous situation for any political system when such widespread feelings are left unexpressed and unvented in politics. The political system seems to be operating in an increasingly unconnected and unresponsive fashion vis-a-vis the public at large. There is a sense among many that I speak to that there is a ruling elite and a vast body of the ruled — a modern equivalent to the helot class of ancient Sparta.
I am still amazed that we have come to this point of rapidly declining feelings of freedom and widespread dissociation with our political system. It is not the failure of our constitutional system and only partially the failure of our leaders. It is largely a failure in ourselves that we have become such grumbling drones — powerless, passive, and frankly a bit pathetic. Our government is openly trying to strip away core privacy protections and increase police powers at every level. Yet, we have fallen victim to the “blue state” and “red state” mentality — allowing politicians to constantly deflect criticism by referring to the other side as the greater evil. The result is predictable and, as with this poll, incredibly depressing.
Here’s a link that I wanted to put in my post which has disappeared.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/opinion/jaron-lanier-on-lack-of-transparency-in-facebook-study.html?_r=1
Why was there envy over the slightly higher wages that union employees received by other non unionized working class people? ENVY. And the oligarchs laughed at the fact they got the poor unwashed masses to fight amongst themselves over a pittance.
An interesting study would be to look at a politicians net worth before entering Washington and their net worth a year after they leave.
* Feingold is a Progressive Liberal* Not a libertarian.
Nick, I never understood the class envy thing. My parents weren’t rich, I’ve never been rich, done well for myself, but never rich. I’ve seen rich people who were complete jerks and I’ve seen rich people who are great people. I’m sure I could never convince people like Annie that without the “for sale” sign in Washington, the rich wouldn’t be able to buy the govt. I would say Annie’s blind spot is envy.
Feingold is a progreive liberal.
Saucy,
Let’s drill into FED Al Greenspan.
The officially apolitical, independent Federal Reserve chairman backed all of Rubin’s favorite deregulatory plans, and helped crush an effort by Brooksley Born to regulate derivatives in 1998,
after the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management went bust. By the time Greenspan left office in 2006, the derivatives market had ballooned into a multi-trillion dollar casino, and Greenspan wanted his cut.
He took a job with bond kings PIMCO and then with the hedge fund Paulson & Co.—yeah, that Paulson and Co., the one that colluded with Goldman Sachs to sabotage the company’s own clients with unregulated derivatives.
Incidentally, this isn’t the first time Greenspan has been a close associate of alleged fraudsters. Back in the 1980s, Greenspan went to bat for politically connected Savings & Loan titan Charles Keating,
urging regulators to exempt his bank from a key rule. Keating later went to jail for fraud, after, among other things, putting out a hit on regulator William Black. (“Get Black – kill him dead.”) Nice friends you’ve got, Alan.
http://billmoyers.com/2013/03/16/russ-feingold-on-the-path-to-campaign-finance-reform/
Former Senator Feingold on campaign finance reform.
Saucy, I again wonder where you get your disinformation about libertarians. We speak loudly against the unholy alliance between big business lobbyists and government. That is a HUGE issue w/ libertarians. We love small businesses who act like commandos, fighting the big govt./big business juggernaut. We helped coin the phrase “corporate welfare.” You are continually making stupid assertions,
Would someone see if my comment is even in the vortex? Thanks!
Annie wrote “Why aren’t we hearing the same level of alarm and outrage about our privacy being stripped by Corporations?”
I do not understand this myself, but libertarians somehow believe that corporations will “do the right thing” even though we have seen the opposite many, many times. Greenspan believed that there would never be another crash for this reason. Lawmakers prostrating themselves before Saint Ayn often say the same thing.
I no longer think it matters. Congress is allowed to collect millions in bribes, err, campaign contributions. The only right corporations do not have is the one to vote and I’ll bet SCOTUS finds a way to give them that. We are returning to the days of lords and serfs. But given the U.S. history of Calvinism and Puritanism, it will be a long time, if ever, before we see another revolution.
P.S. No, I do not believe government should be all powerful. We need a balance.
Some people live in a fool’s paradise.
JT, my comment won’t post. I was fairly certain it wouldn’t!
Jim, Obama has played the class envy card from the top of the deck. Dems have always played the class envy card from the bottom of the deck. You see how the blatant class envy play works w/ some folks.
Exactly Saucy, most Americans of average income and intelligence don’t realize the ugly truth… The ‘System’ is rigged against them, guess who rigged it that way?
Saucy, I had a radical philosophy professor in college. We called him Radical Ray. He was friends w/ Angela Davis. This was 1972. He would go on rants. He told us the govt. and business would be in cahoots involving credit cards and DEBIT CARDS. Again, 1972, we didn’t have a clue about debit cards, but he explained it. He made the case that both govt. and business wanted a convenient way to track what you bought and what you did. Credit cards were helpful, but debit cards would become ubiquitous and then the govt. would eliminate currency, the last untraceable way to exist in our culture. We only have $100 bills. There used to be 10k bills! Big Brother.
nick, Read the details of the Quinnipiac poll. All republicans voted for Obama while the democrats split their votes between Nixon and the younger Bush.It was non scientific. I did some polling at one time so I like to look at how a poll is conducted. Leaving for the shore for a few days and hopefully no internet.
See Jim, this is where you have a BIG HUGE blind spot.
Annie wrote “why don’t we hear more outrage and alarm being expressed about the obscene power the rich have in this nation?”
The answer lies in our history, with Calvinism and Puritanism. Remember that most Americans believe that the saying “God helps those who help themselves” originates from the Bible, when in fact it comes from Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac. The average American cannot distinguish between God and Franklin, though Americans generally claim to be good Christians. Righties place the Founding Fathers on one step below the pedestal of God, even thought they owned slaves. A large number of Americans accept that behavior because they hope to one day become a member of the 1%, even though that is highly unlikely.
Saucy, yes! Why aren’t we hearing the same level of alarm and outrage about our privacy being stripped by Corporations? Could it be because the oligarchs have indicated that this is how they want it? Whose ears do these oligarchs have?