The Newest, not the Only

I think that John Stossel makes a good case for the keeping the following perspective on recent revelations about widespread, inappropriate government spying on ordinary citizens:

I don't suggest that we should be passive about data mining and surveillance. But we should not let the latest threat make us passive about the old ones, some of them much more clearly wrong.

He correctly notes that, regarding the spying, while we may be on "a terrible, privacy-crushing slippery slope, ... we're not there yet."  On the other hand, he notes numerous other outrageous government violations of our rights that are both deeply entrenched and ... apparently unworthy of the same amount of concern that the recent revelations have raised.

-- CAV

P.S. The piece also notes the ineffectiveness of London's numerous surveillance cameras against crime, something that comes as no surprise to me.