“Those who can give up essential freedom to gain a little temporary security deserve neither freedom nor security.” -Benjamin Franklin. We live in a time where governments invade citizens' private lives in the name of security. Ironically, anyone who shows a hint of paranoia when it comes to surveillance or government secrecy is automatically labeled a conspiracy theorist or a lunatic. It seems that in the United States it has become frowned upon to believe that our government could ever violate our rights, unintentionally or deliberately. After all, they can't, the Constitution says so! But, alas, it turns out that “Big Brother” has been very busy over the past decade. It seems like new government scandals emerge every year, from cover-ups to spying on U.S. citizens. Law enforcement and government agencies are slowly finding “loopholes” in problematic areas of the constitution, with little regard for citizens' rights. It is our duty as citizens not to tolerate violations of the law upon which our nation was founded. By examining other countries' history and policies regarding privacy and freedom, it becomes clear that if these violations of our rights continue, we will live in a country of fear and oppression. History has shown that the United States government has no problem lying to its citizens, whether it is to go to war, or to suppress information that highlights heinous acts committed by our military, or even to On the eve of US involvement United States in World War II, our government intercepted a message sent explicitly by the Japanese military revealing the impending bombing of Pearl Harbor. Knowing full well that innocent lives would be lost in this attack, our government instructed the military to wait and watch. In... middle of paper... I firmly believe that all the evidence points to this being the case. If we as a nation do not stand up and refuse to be subjected to government tyranny regarding our constitutional rights, we will lose them altogether. We will indeed live in the land of the oppressed and the home of the cowardly. Works Cited Gellman, Barton. “NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times a year, audit finds.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, August 21, 2013. Web. April 16, 2014.Thomson, Peter M. “Patriot Act Surveillance Powers Protect Americans.” Privacy. Ed. Jamuna Carroll. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Views. Rpt. from "White Paper on the 'Roving' Electronic Surveillance Amendment of the U.S. Patriot Act to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act." Federalist Society for the Study of Law and Public Policy, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Network. April 16. 2014.