I am a new immigrant to America. I came with my wife from Australia 8 months ago. All my life I heard about how the US supported the freedom and rights of its people, and now that I'm here, I find that that was a sick joke. This place is a KGB state on the brink of happening.
It's pretty heartbreaking.
The irony is that the original impetus for the Federal government to assert supremacy was to give freedom to the slaves -- the right thing to do, but it's unlikely that we'll recover from that power shift any time soon.
I just thought America was a place where this stuff wouldn't happen, and where the people were protected by the Constitution. Guess I was being naive and idealistic.
The moral of the story is that the US is not nearly as bad as people might think/say, but governments watching people's every move is the first rung in the 1000 step ladder down to hell.
However, there is a difference here in frequency/intensity. My great grandfather's brother was innocent as far as I can tell. He held a fairly high city-level position as a factory manager, so when he spent enough years in his job someone decided that he got a little too comfortable and might nt fall in line if push came to shove (remember this was Stalin, the paranoid maniac bank robber who killed tens of millions of people for fear of being replaced). This kind of stuff does not happen in the US. You have to piss someone off at the Federal level to get on a kill list. Bad mouthing the government is still fine so long as you do not leak actual facts.
Circumstantial evidence is apparently now enough to both be disappeared and assassinated (never mind the collateral damage). No judge, no jury. This isn't the rule of law any more.
Add to all this the fact that we can now assume the NSA possess comprehensive evidence that could be used to indite major financial institutions in the wake of 2008 -- and yet that is seemingly impossible. The fact that "it's not quite as bad as Iraq was under Saddam Hussein, only with less government health care" -- isn't a very strong argument.
"So the poor and the ignorant go to jail
while the rich go to San Clemente"
-- We Beg your Pardon America
Gil Scott-Heron, 1975Circumstantial evidence is perfectly legal and does get many people convicted every day. One piece may not be enough, but you get supporting evidence and you have your case --it's a very basic tool.
Indicting savvy bad bankers is very very hard. That and when the investigative ranks (those who understand the intricacies of finance law, etc.) are reduced to a fraction of what they were makes it even more difficult.
1) killing someone over circumstantial evidence alone is questionable
2) killing someone based on unilateral interpretation of any evidence (as opposed to the result of a verdict from a court) is questionable
That is: in the latter case you (would/should) have to prove intent before any crime is committed (and that a crime is likely to be committed) -- while in the latter case you would only have to be able to document the most likely path that led to recorded events taking place? You're even able to document profit, in the case of the banks.
to the other point, yes. Securities laws, from what I can tell, are very convoluted. Even experts find it hard to tell when one enters or exits the grey areas. In addition, in 2008, there were other considerations to take. Until, I know better, I don't think the NSA is allowed to use whatever information they have, to prosecute domestic crimes. They may 'tip off' the SEC, etc. but the SEc must gather their own info and evidence. Also, it's not as if the NSA are experts in Securities. They look for physical threats rather than soft threats to the economy/population.
See some review of this in this NPR piece: http://www.npr.org/2011/07/13/137789065/why-prosecutors-dont...
No, this isn't Stalinist Russia, but the question is, if we continue down this route, could we BECOME Stalinist Russia, or something similar? I think that the consensus on that is definitely yes. Intimidation of journalists, secretive detainment, interrogation and assassination, the USA is definitely headed down a dark path.
However, I want to emphasize that if you invoke the slippery slope argument, you better realize that the slope is very very slight. Instead, I think it makes sense to talk about things on a case by case basis. For example "NSA does more harm than good" is a more rational and direct argument than "NSA is the coming of Stalin to America".
On top of this, there is the big picture: the US's largest export is weapons. This leads to a lot of people hating the US, which leads to terrorism. That leads to counterterrorism in the form of drones and spy agencies. Even if the US made nice with the various governments around the world that do not like us, we would be stifling our main export, so there is no incentive to do that.
If two countries have a problem then the problem isn't worth fixing?! I've never understood this retort. This is the USA, we're supposed to be crazy about freedom not "eh, we're slightly better than the competition for now so let's take a nap and see where we wind up in 10 years."
I was in love with the passion of the American people for civil rights. I visited in 2004 and read Archibald Cox "The Role of the Supreme Court in American Government" and "Freedom of Expression" in the Boston Public Library after some college student left it on a table, and then went and annoyed other Australians about it for years.
I came here because I wanted to create a better life (the same as any other immigrant), not because I had any axes to grind. Can you blame me for being disillusioned? Again, not cool.
I would have thought Australia was at least as free and as prosperous as the US plus better healthcare.
Are you sre you didn't just make the mistake a lot of holidaymakers do? That is, viewing your vacation destination through rose coloured glasses?
If you want me to justify my reasons for moving here, fine. Australia was starting to slide into a quiet recession(link below), and I was having serious issues with some of the decisions the government was making.
That and I had always been fascinated by the "American dream". We saw it in movies and theatre growing up and I wanted to check it out for myself. Is that so culpable?
http://www.news.com.au/business/worklife/brace-for-a-white-c...
In Canada, there is less isolation/insulation. I've stated for many years now that I'd refused to move to the US until their country is fixed. Which is a damn shame, because there is so much cool, interesting shit happening.