President Obama is not violating his liberal principles by defending the NSA. He is exercising them.

[OKNancy]

The liberal case for high-tech NSA surveillance

http://theweek.com/article/index/245464/the-liberal-case-for-high-tech-nsa-surveillance#


Let's say you're a liberal. Your inclination is to ward against authoritarian government invading personal privacy. You grew up appalled by the actions of Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy. You raged against the PATRIOT Act when it was proposed by President George W. Bush.
And yet today, after seeing all the recent leaks about Presidenet Obama's high-tech surveillance, and absorbing all the anger from various civil libertarians, try as you might to shake your fist and pound your keyboard, you're just not feeling the outrage.

Does this mean you're a giant hypocrite?

No.

There is, in fact, a strong liberal case to make for America's current use of surveillance to combat terrorism.


Liberals are not libertarians or anarchists. Liberals believe in a proper use of government to maximize the common good, including public safety.

What liberals have long opposed are abuses of power that harm individuals yet do nothing to keep us safe: systematic torture, racial profiling, FBI infiltration and disruption of civil rights groups, communist witch hunts, Japanese interment camps, the Palmer raids — the list goes on

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more at the above link... it won't take long to read.