Are YOU on a list?

I don't have a clear grasp yet, on this newest arrival in a growing crowd of government scandals, but as I understand it ... our federal government has been collecting data on our phone calls, credit card usage, and internet surfing.  This mind-boggling-sized cache of info is stored somewhere, and only accessible through a court order.  As dangerous as this world is and the fact that there are nations of brain-washed people who will do anything to kill us, I can understand the necessity of strident security and the need for tools to track and block terrorists.  None of us like removing our shoes and submitting to body scans at the airport, but we see the point.  We want to be safe.  And if ever there is a reason for the existence of a federal government, it is to protect us from foreign threats.

Originally, the Patriot Act, enacted by President Bush after 9/11 and heavily criticized by then-Senator Obama, tapped into phone calls to and from suspect countries in the Middle East.  But somewhere down the line, that surveillance expanded to all calls, including MY calls to my pharmacist, to my mechanic, or to my husband.  And again, I can understand the reason.  I don't like it, but I get it.

I am willing to forfeit some freedom and privacy, in exchange for safety.  But here is the problem ... I must be able to trust the people gathering and holding my personal records.  And on the heels of the IRS scandal, which followed the Benghazi lies, the targeting of the press, added to the overall disingenuousness of the current administration .... what little trust I had, has been snuffed out.  Our president has lied to us.  Now he's asking us to trust him.  Really??

So in my opinion, the problem isn't the intrusion, it's the violation of trust.  My president has twisted the truth, evaded facts, smeared good people and backed bad people, covered his tracks, made secret deals to further his career, broken promises, and lied.  All, while he furrows his brow at us as if it's our fault and scolds us for being so uncooperative.  How do we know that some "obscure government paper-pushers in Cincinnati" won't tap into our calls because our political leanings don't jive with their's?  At which point the POTUS* feigns ignorance, saying, "Golly, I only learned about it on the evening news like the rest of you!"  Yeah, right.

"If you can't trust us, then we're going to have a problem." says Barack Obama.  Well, Mr. President, we already had a problem.  We don't trust the IRS.  We don't trust Eric Holder.  We don't trust Joe Biden, Susan Rice, Lois Lerner, Hilary Clinton, Jay Carney, Harry Reid, and we don't trust you.

For all I know, this little blog of mine possibly has landed ME on some watch-list.  It's a ridiculous thought, since my sphere of influence barely exceeds the walls of my own kitchen.  But nowadays, even the ridiculous is becoming less .... ridiculous.



*President Of The U.S.