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On the other hand, why wouldn't they try to protect themselves by trying to defund the NSA programs by proposing a new bill? There's public outrage which they c

On the other hand, why wouldn't they try to protect themselves by trying to defund the NSA programs by proposing a new bill? There's public outrage which they can use for their own benefit and they could easily frame this as defending the American citizens while covering their own asses, but they're not doing that either. In fact, the amendment that was proposed to defund the NSA phone surveillance didn't pass, so what's going on? Also, blackmail isn't that easy. If something embarrassing is revealed about a politician who seemed to be critical of the NSA, you think people wouldn't start pointing fingers to the NSA and accusing them of blackmail?

alan_cx 13y ago
Its always easier to not upset the apple cart. And as another poster rightly said, this could easily be a two way process. A given politician likely doesn't need a NSA crusade for votes, if (s)he has already won a seat, jobs already done. No need for public out rage to generate quick votes. As for your blackmail not easy point... no, its not. You are correct. But while there is this sort of hidden balance, out right blackmail and reveal threats are not necessary. If this is happening, it would be far more subtle and nuanced than a black and white situation. Heh, just like the situation we are all in now, a perception of all reaching surveillance leafs us to cowering fear. We are all, including politicians and NSA types, are human.
- dreamfactory 13y ago
  I'm reminded of Brezhnev's niece Luba, who was beaten when she was pregnant by the KGB, to the point of inducing miscarriage. It seemed as much a signal to Brezhnev as to Luba that even he couldn't protect her.
  - hga 13y ago
    Interesting. It being the KGB it's also post-Stalin, as in the period after which the nomenklatura agreed they wouldn't use Leninist/Stalinist terror against each other. Yet per her Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luba_Brezhneva http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luba_Brezhneva) she was a member of it, e.g. she describes the two-tier system of shops which kept the people extra busy (the counterrevolutionary devil finds work for idle hands) and the nomenklatura in tall cotton.

alan_cx 13y ago

Its always easier to not upset the apple cart. And as another poster rightly said, this could easily be a two way process. A given politician likely doesn't need a NSA crusade for votes, if (s)he has already won a seat, jobs already done. No need for public out rage to generate quick votes. As for your blackmail not easy point... no, its not. You are correct. But while there is this sort of hidden balance, out right blackmail and reveal threats are not necessary. If this is happening, it would be far more subtle and nuanced than a black and white situation. Heh, just like the situation we are all in now, a perception of all reaching surveillance leafs us to cowering fear. We are all, including politicians and NSA types, are human.

dreamfactory 13y ago
I'm reminded of Brezhnev's niece Luba, who was beaten when she was pregnant by the KGB, to the point of inducing miscarriage. It seemed as much a signal to Brezhnev as to Luba that even he couldn't protect her.
- hga 13y ago
  Interesting. It being the KGB it's also post-Stalin, as in the period after which the nomenklatura agreed they wouldn't use Leninist/Stalinist terror against each other. Yet per her Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luba_Brezhneva http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luba_Brezhneva) she was a member of it, e.g. she describes the two-tier system of shops which kept the people extra busy (the counterrevolutionary devil finds work for idle hands) and the nomenklatura in tall cotton.