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.
Jill:
Free at last, free at last, thank god almighty your comments are free at last. No idea why the spam filter ate yours.
Randyjet:
Your post is free … free … free from the spam filter.
Jill, I’m working on yours
Annie wrote “Jim clings to losing arguments”
Yes, he does. I took the time to answer his comment regarding credit/debit cards and then he responded as if I had written nothing. I see the light; there is no point in engaging him in discussion.
Jill – I think the media is manipulating the populace into apathy and they are working at the behest of the current administration.
I cannot get a content based comment to post. Is anyone willing to check into this with WP?
Annie:
Thanks. I’ll read randyjet’s comment.
Professor, I couldn’t agree more with your spot-on statement that Americans have turned into ‘such grumbling drones — powerless, passive, and frankly a bit pathetic.’ The media is complicit as well. They parrot the government screed and ignore protestors or describe them as fringe or radical. People are afraid to gather in groups and make their voices heard since it may harm them at work, school, PTA, or job hunting. Your words, your face, your actions, your views are all tracked and the corporate spy state can use that information as it pleases to deny you work, advancement, and other opportunities. Taking a day off of work for a protest will get you fired. The job market is still stagnant and that fear of job loss encourages passive behavior.
Freedom doesn’t come without a fight and that fight seems to be lacking. Fighting between Red and Blue is a distraction that takes away attentions needed to challenge the corporate and government spy state which are truly the enemy of freedom. But people don’t seem to have the capacity to bridge social and ideological bridges that would form a powerful force against the freedom crushing entities.
Here’s another interesting survey, Professor:
The South Is Essentially A Solid, Grim Block Of Poverty http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/poverty-increase-map_n_5548577.html
I am always reminded of the Thomas Franks book, ‘What’s the Matter with Kansas’ when I see maps like that.
In respect for Jamie Dimon and his battle with cancer, I decided to present another bankster criminal that deserves attention and a jail sentence…..
O.K. more content based suppression of speech on this blog. Please go to nakedcapitalism to see an article about how FB is manipulating its users. I believe govt/corporate manipulation is key in the creation of apathy in our population.
“The interest in the effectiveness of political messaging is troubling given Facebook’s connections to the Department of Defense. From SCG News:
In the official credits for the [emotions] study conducted by Facebook you’ll find Jeffrey T. Hancock from Cornell University. If you go to the Minerva initiative website you’ll find that Jeffery Hancock received funding from the Department of Defense for a study called “Cornell: Modeling Discourse and Social Dynamics in Authoritarian Regimes”. If you go to the project site for that study you’ll find a visualization program that models the spread of beliefs and disease.
Cornell University is currently being funded for another DoD study right now called “Cornell: Tracking Critical-Mass Outbreaks in Social Contagions” (you’ll find the description for this project on the Minerva Initiative’s funding page).
The Department of Defense’s investment in the mechanics of psychological contagion and Facebook’s assistance, have some very serious implications, particularly when placed in context with other scandals which have broken in the past two years.
In other words, researchers that the Department of Defense is funding to understand how ideas and news goes viral are doing very similar work for Facebook. The cross pollination is high and means that Facebook users are making a direct contribution not only to the surveillance state having even more data, but to perfecting its methods.
This revelation is unlikely to have any meaningful impact on Facebook in the US. But European countries have much stricter privacy rules, and this news is likely to intensify political pressure.” find at nakedcapitalism
Propaganda breeds apathy.
One only has to look at the SEC, the Treasury, Federal Reserve, NRC, as well as others to see that corporation/government is a standard working model. If the corporate folks that are in the NRC keep lowering the regulations for power plants, we may see some of our own Chernobyls-Fukushima event, which would be that industry’s echo of the Wall Street meltdown. Yikes… meltdown.
Annie – “Jim clings to losing arguments. Your blind spot is growing.”
That is some good arguing techniques you got there. What is wrong with me saying if the govt. put away the for sale sign this would stop? Corporations are only buying what is being sold. Don’t blame them.
no luck getting a content based post through. If someone would look into this, I’d certainly be grateful!
no luck as yet, trying again.
I don’t think of the poll as depressing. I think it is good that people are facing the reality of what has happened to our rights in the USA. Understanding that things are wrong is a necessary first step in righting those wrongs.
I do agree that there is extreme apathy in our population. I believe that apathy is manufactured. Over at nakedcapitalism there is a link to a story on how FB is manipulating users (marks) emotions. The govt. and corporations do pay people to create false identities and make so many tweets, blog comments and FB posts in order to steer public thinking to “acceptable”, (meaning useful) ways of framing the situation. One of the most successful of these devices is to cast this as a problem of evil Republicans stopping white night Democrats from doing all the great things they would like to do if only Republicans didn’t try to stop them (weren’t in league with them). This particular propaganda is powerful and redirects people from understanding the systemic problems we face.
If we can understand how we are manipulated, how we are kept apart from others, we may have a chance.
(See Jaron Lanier’s op-ed in the NYT on FB manipulation if anyone is interested in that topic.)
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So how about solutions? Bob you’re a smart guy, what’s your solution to the issues Professor Turley outlined? I’d like to hear Jill’s solution too if she’d care to share her thoughts, if she could get a comment through the Wordmess. Most of all I’d like to hear Professor Turley’s solution.
J.T.: “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.”
For more on deflecting criticism with the “things could be worse” spin see comments at 10:56am and 11:12am.
Jim clings to losing arguments. Your blind spot is growing.
Saucy, I guess the libertarian in me would say your examples also provide a great business opportunity for you. Start an airline, hotel or car rental company that caters to people who only want to pay with cash. If there are enough people you will get rich and envied by others here.
swarthmoremom wrote “So, yes, the court is partisan, and the republican justices have become corporate tools”
One should not be surprised by partisan politics. To paraphrase Clausewitz, SCOTUS decisions are a continuation of politics by other means.
During his confirmation hearings, John Roberts used JT’s favorite sport in an analogy of “it’s my job to call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat,” referring to judicial activism.
He said:
“Now, the Court, of course, has the obligation, and has been recognized since Marbury v. Madison, to assess the constitutionality of acts of Congress, and when those acts are challenged, it is the obligation of the Court to say what the law is. The determination of when deference to legislative policy judgments goes too far and becomes abdication of the judicial responsibility, and when scrutiny of those judgments goes too far on the part of the judges and becomes what I think is properly called judicial activism, that is certainly the central dilemma of having an unelected, as you describe it correctly, undemocratic judiciary in a democratic republic.”
Referring to Brown v. Board of Education, he said that “the Court in that case, of course, overruled a prior decision. I don’t think that constitutes judicial activism because obviously if the decision is wrong, it should be overruled. That’s not activism. That’s applying the law correctly.”
Ergo, he believes that giving corporations special rights is on par with the elimination of “separate but equal.” That’s all we need to know about Roberts.
Sauce, I used Target because you used it. I too am using it as a general example. All of your examples don’t prove what I said was wrong. You don’t have to use any of those services. But if you do, you have to play by their rules. But I have no choice but obey any govt. rule. Which even your examples have lots of govt. rules dictating how they must be run.
To your p.s. I guess I would say, if you don’t want your personal data to be used, don’t give it out, keep it personal. If some corporate big wig gets his jollies off by knowing what can of tuna I like, hell, have fun.
saucy – I am hoping that my credit card and debit card use will overwhelm them with metadata. They will be so snowed under with metadata they will be unable to find themselves.
HALP! my post got eaten by the monster.