Trust Me, I'm the Government

Charles Benge

Peterson        

English 102

19 November 2015

Trust me, I’m the government

Day after day, millions of Americans wake up, get to work, going about their daily life, blissfully unaware of “Big Brother” all round them. Phone calls, bank transactions even health records are being monitored, all from cushy government offices. Why is this happening? Well, if you were to ask a government official, they would say it is simply for your own good, and a matter of national security. Congress will quietly pass a bill without ever releasing the details to the public, and large companies lobby in favor of business interests, paying politicians huge campaign contributions, all the while being seemingly “hush hush” This sneaky behavior begs the question “Is the government ever really justified in withholding information that directly impacts its citizens?” The answer is no!

In times of war, it is critical that information be readily available so that appropriate actions can be taken. If the information gets withheld, loss of life could be tremendous, and the trust we have in our government to protect us would be significantly destroyed. Some argue that in times of war, critical intelligence about terrorist operations are kept confidential so that we have an understanding of how their organizations work, and operate. Strategic measures can be carefully planned and orchestrated, and terrorist plots can be foiled. However, withholding information is devastating. Take a look at what happened at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II. The withholding of information to our military personnel from our own government, caused 2.403 people to lose their life. Comprehensive research has shown not only that Washington knew in advance of the attack, but that it deliberately withheld its foreknowledge from our commanders in Hawaii in the hope that the "surprise" attack would catapult the U.S. into World War II (Stinnett) If President Roosevelt had let his commanding officer know about the imminent attack, the fleet would have been out at sea with a watchful eye on the incoming enemy forces. As a result of this attack Adm. Edward Kimmel and Gen. Walter C. Short were held responsible, and ended the careers of the islands' two top military commanders, both of whom had stellar service jackets and had to retired in disgrace. Short died in 1949; Kimmel in 1968. Both were refused court martial trials that would have given them a chance to clear their names. These brave men and their families were not allowed to receive military pensions or benefits, and are constant reminders of the damage that can occur from our government withholding information.

September 11, 2001 will always be a powerful reminder, of how the United States was forever changed. We as citizens began putting more and more trust in our government to protect us from these types of egregious acts, but in doing so, we gave the government a new platform to heighten national security. Shortly after the tragedy of 911, the “Patriot Act” (www.justice.gov) was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2011. The legislation was created to help prevent innocent Americans from the deadly plans of terrorists, dedicated to destroying America, and our way of life. While the “Patriot Act” was designed to protect us from these so-called “terrorists” it was also a way for the United States government to invade the privacy of every single American citizen without ever having to obtain a warrant. Thomas A. Drake the former Senior Executive Director of the NSA overseen a project known as “Trailblazer” a program intended to develop a capability to analyze data carried on communications networks like the Internet. It was intended to track entities using communication methods such as cell phones and e-mail. Mr. Drake soon realized that what was actually going on was illegal and unconstitutional. Mr. Drake stated "My first day on the job was 9/11. And it was shortly after 9/11 that I was exposed to the Pandora’s Box of illegality and government wrongdoing on a very significant scale" Several years later, another NSA turned Whistleblower named Edward Snowden came forward with more information. Edward Snowden, a tech specialist who has contracted for the NSA and works for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, unmasked himself as a source after a string of stories in The Washington Post and the Guardian that detailed previously unknown U.S. surveillance programs. He said he disclosed secret documents in response to what he described as the systematic surveillance of innocent citizens (Barton Gellman) Intercepting conversations of terrorist groups in Iraq and Afghanistan is one thing, but scanning the private phone calls, emails and internet activity of the average American citizen is a total and complete invasion of privacy. The United States government charged Thomas A. Drake and Edward Snowden with the “Espionage Act” A charge normally given to someone who releases classified information with respect to the national defense, with a reason to believe that the information is to be used to the injury of the US. Mr. Drake along with Mr. Snowden have done no such thing. They were only informing the citizens of the United States that the powers that be in the NSA were overstepping boundaries, spying on innocent civilians and violating their privacy while breaking the same laws American citizens are expected to abide.

Healthcare is a multi-billion dollar business. Large pharmaceutical companies are some of the top political campaign contributors and yet, nobody ever seems to question why? More people die from prescription medication, than from automobile accidents in the United States. A small measles outbreak once considered a common childhood illness, was being hyped in the media as comparable to a crisis like Ebola. Spawning over 126 bills in 26 states to remove a parent’s right to decide whether or not to vaccinate. As well as force any medical professional or daycare employee to vaccinate or lose their jobs. In 1986 there were so much death and disability caused by the vaccination schedule that congress created the (Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program) Since the first National Vaccine Injury Compensation (VICP) claims were filed in 1989, 3,887 compensation awards have been made. More than $3.0 billion in compensation awards has been paid to petitioners and more than $120.4 million has been paid to cover attorneys’ fees and other legal costs. To date, 9,860 claims have been dismissed. Of those, 4,912 claimants were paid more than $64.8 million to cover attorneys’ fees and other legal costs. (http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/data.html) In 1932 the CDC started experimenting on poor black men in Macon County Alabama. It was called the "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male." The study initially involved 600 black men – 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease. The study was conducted without the benefit of patients' informed consent. Researchers told the men they were being treated for "bad blood," (Jones) the story finally broke in the Washington Star on July 25, 1972, in an article by Jean Heller of the Associated Press. Her source was Peter Buxton, a former PHS venereal disease interviewer and one of the few whistleblowers over the years. The PHS, however, remained unrepentant, claiming the men had been “volunteers” and “were always happy to see the doctors,” and an Alabama state health officer who had been involved claimed “somebody is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.” It took almost forty years before someone involved in the study took a hard and honest look at the end results, reporting that “nothing learned will prevent, find, or cure a single case of infectious syphilis or bring us closer to our basic mission of controlling venereal disease in the United States.” Evidence based medicine is crucial, but knowing when to stop trying to find that evidence can be even more crucial at times. In the story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a character named Alymer is a man of science. His wife Georgiana has a large birthmark on her cheek, and he soon becomes obsessed with finding a cure to remove it. Alymer experiments on Georgiana’s birthmark, and as she peers over all of research he says to her “Georgiana, there are pages in that volume which I scarcely glance over and keep my senses. Take heed lest it prove as detrimental to you” (Hawthorne) Alymer thought he knew better than nature and that his science was infallible, he soon realized how wrong he was when his experiments led to Georgiana’s death. Most scientists today make these same mistakes just as Alymer did. Vaccines today are seen as the holy grail of medicine, you aren’t supposed to question the efficacy or safety, just accept it and move along. You’re family’s wellbeing is nothing to a pharmaceutical company, compared to the all mighty dollar. On August 8, 2014 Scientist Dr. Brian Hooker published a study in Translational Neurodegeneration entitled Measles-mumps-rubella vaccination timing and autism among young African American boys: a reanalysis of CDC data.  The paper took a second look at the data used in the 2002 CDC MMR/autism study Age at first measles-mumps-rubella vaccination in children with autism and school-matched control subjects: a population-based study in metropolitan Atlanta, and concludes that there is a significant association between giving the MMR vaccine to black males under the age of 3 and the development of autism. This association was not reported in the published CDC study. Had parent’s been given this statistically significant information, countless young lives could have been spared from the hell known as Autism. Instead of alerting the public, the pharmaceutical industry swept it under their dirty rug, and lobbied the journal to remove Dr. Hooker’s paper. Not on the validity of the results, but as a conflict of interest because he is a father to an autistic child.