Government Surveillance Policy- Pro & Con?

There is no power we allow the government to have that doesn't end up being abused. Simple as that. That's why the Constitution requires warrants, probable cause, etc. It may be inconvenient, it may even have a real cost, but, as Ben Franklin said, "They who would give up essential liberty for a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security."

The Bill of Rights isn't something we hide behind; it's something essential to the very soul of this country, and has been for over 200 years.

Don't agree with it. I have nothing to hide, I want nothing to defend. They have the tools they need to surveille, they jus have to do it within the law...because some politicians can't be trusted. When corruption in politics ceases to exist, they can have my rights back. Until then, live within the confines of the law, like the rest of us. What kind of example are we setting for budding democracies? Same goes for torturing detainees. We have to take the higher ground...

If the government wants to listen to my conversations from work, with my mother, daughter, and girl friend to find a terrorist, no problem with me. I understand why people are paranoid (did you ever read the book 1984), but there are so many phone calls made that no one is really listening. They are looking for keywords or patterns of calls. There is no way in hell that they can listen to over a billion phone calls per hour. Only when the computer find something suspicious do they look at it further and actually listen to the calls.

Terrorist surveillance , is OK with me I don't hide behind the Bill of Rights.

Good god, you'd have to be a complete idiot to want to be spied on.