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In a like manner, spying is in the DNA of politicians and government bureaucrats. Ever since the first government was formed, some bureaucrat has been reading our mail. In terms of our English heritage, the first government post was created by Edward IV back in 1481. Oliver Cromwell established the first postal monopoly in 1654. According to historian James I. Campbell, Jr., “A primary reason for the monopoly was to permit surveillance of the citizenry.” In 1657, the first act of Parliament to establish a Post Office declared that the new office would “discover and prevent many dangerous and wicked designs, which have been, and are daily contrived against the Peace and Welfare of this Commonwealth, and the intelligence whereof cannot be well Communicated but by letter.” Or e-mail. And so it goes today at the National Security Agency (NSA), the CIA, the FBI, and the myriad alphabet agencies tasked with getting Americans to the other side of the river. It is in their nature to spy on us. Also, to lie to us. Pretty much constantly. The credulous frog was lied to. Our national security network lies to us about spying on us. Take former
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, please. In October of 2013 when Clapper was asked by Sen. Ron Wyden (D- OR) if the NSA collected data on millions – even hundreds of millions – of Americans, the NSA chief gave a classic poker tell that he was bluffing by nervously rubbing his shiny dome and replying, “No sir. Not wittingly.” Indeed, he held no inside straight, later admitting he had told “the least untruthful” answer. The American Founders were remarkably sophisticated in the ways of the world and in the nature of governance. When a woman outside the courthouse in Philadelphia asked Ben Franklin what kind of government the Framers had given us, he replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” While the Declaration of Independence provided the spirit of liberty and limited government and the Constitution provided the structure for maintaining it, it is likely most of these remarkable individuals would have been amazed at how long their handiwork survived and how successful if turned out to be. But they would not have been surprised at the growth of state power and the loss of so much personal and economic liberty over the past 80 years. To be
By Edward H. Crane
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American Consequences 31
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