Really? The NSA was a ballot issue? It was a wedge issue during the congressional elections? I wanted to vote against collect-by-default programs. But I didn't

Really? The NSA was a ballot issue? It was a wedge issue during the congressional elections? I wanted to vote against collect-by-default programs. But I didn't see the checkbox. The parties defined the issues for the voters. The Democratic Party ran on the usual 'get out the vote' and The Republican Party ran on equating officials with the Obama administration and discouraged voting except from their base where they could. Both promised financial change but neither advanced anything concrete enough to be a platform. And did we want a big item like widespread surveillance to be on the ballot during the national elections most famous for poor voter turnout? Or maybe you're talking about a different ballot? > If you're an anti-surveillance civil liberties type, you might be better served backing the companies that have dollars at stake in opposing surveillance than wait for the voting public to come around to caring about the issue. A philosophical equivalent to tactical/dishonest voting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_voting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactical_voting). You're suggesting that I accept the (presumed) assistance of these corporate leaders. I do, actually. But I also do not accept the fact that this class has the power that it does. These two things are not actually mutually exclusive.