I think the OP shows the opposite of your thesis, that the USG is getting worse. As much as I agree that the USG is doing bad things now, it seems clear that in

I think the OP shows the opposite of your thesis, that the USG is getting worse. As much as I agree that the USG is doing bad things now, it seems clear that in any historical context things have gotten better overall. We now have lawyers involved in picking the targets of drone strikes. Contrast that with the large scale bombing of civilians in countless wars in the 20th century, and I think things, in regards to the behavior of a powerful state like the US, have improved a lot. I find some irony in the complaining about all the spying the USG is involved in. I much prefer that they do that than go to war. The various intelligence agencies in the US got a lot of (political) grief for not stopping the 9/11 bombers, and whether it is actually helpful or not, it is understandable that there would be an institutional response to step up "intelligence" activities. In terms of whether the USG has become more brutal and unprincipled to the suffering of our own civilians, I see no evidence of this. A simple look at the treatment of blacks and Native Americans throughout the history of the US shows this sentiment to be a false idealization of the past. That said, I am certainly appalled by many of the current scandals. I'm just not quite as appalled as I am by the outrageous actions of the USG throughout its history. The reason I think this matters is that the US is a complex and powerful nation. To effect positive change requires at least a roughly accurate view of the various trends, and the forces driving them. I think you don't see the outrage because most people don't get outraged until they start to see significant, ongoing, systemic negative effects on themselves or those close to them. For example, the injustice of the Jim Crow laws was so massive, and had a direct negative effect on African Americans, that there was a substantial number of highly motived citizens from which to build a movement. Another example was the Vietnam War protests in the US, which were given huge fuel by the fact that a civilian draft was pulling so many US citizens directly into the war against their own wishes. The negative consequences of the NSA spying on US citizens are nowhere near these examples. I also happen to think that the NSA has been spying on whoever it can for a long time. The scale has just gotten much bigger because of the internet. The modest outrage we are seeing is a positive sign.