A brief timeline of how the IRS, Secret Service, FBI and NSA came into being…
- 1862 – President Lincoln created an income tax to pay for war expenditures. It was repealed after 10 years, but reinstated in 1894 by Congress. The following year, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.
- 1865 – The Secret Service was founded in 1865 to help detect counterfeit currency.
- July 26, 1908 – This date is considered the birthdate of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, or FBI. This group of agents were originally brought together to combat white collar crimes, anarchy but soon became involved in protecting national security as well.
- 1913 – The states ratified the 13th Amendment, allowing for a federal income tax. In the 1950’s, the Bureau of Internal Revenue became the Internal Revenue Service.
- 1947 - President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, creating the Central Intelligence Agency, or better known as the CIA.
- 1952 – President Truman ordered the founding of the National Security Agency on November 4, 1952 to help with code breaking for national security purposes.
It took nearly one hundred years to establish United States
agencies charged with protecting our nation and the agency responsible for
collecting funds to pay for them. Pearl Harbor, WW II, and 9/11 make it clear
there is need for gathering information in order to keep harm away from
American citizens around the world.
However, after revelations in the past month we must ask
what price are we willing to pay for this security? Must we give up our
freedom? If so, have we lost the war?
As a candidate, Obama was extremely critical of infringement
on rights of Americans in the name of national security. Now that he sits in
the highest office, he wants us to trust him because it is in our best
interest. Forgive me if I am having trouble with trust for this man, his
administration, and the agencies that are supposed to protect me.
As I write this blog, I have to wonder, is every keystroke
being recorded? Is every phone call I make being documented? Is every
transaction I make through my bank account under surveillance?
The reality is, I don’t know. And, last I checked, I am just
a normal American citizen who wants to enjoy the freedoms my ancestors died to
establish.
It does not matter who occupies the Oval Office, the
freedoms granted to American citizens by our Constitution are sacred. President
Obama and those serving under him at the CIA, FBI, NSA, and IRS pledged an oath
to uphold these rights and guard them at all costs. I believe our founders
would be appalled at what we are seeing our government do today.
Don’t get me wrong. I want to be safe, and believe we have lost enough
American lives to war and terrorism. But I am also a realist. I understand no
matter how much we give into what the enemy wants there will always be threats
to a nation that promotes freedom. If we as Americans are willing to sacrifice
our constitutional rights and allow our government to justify the type of data
mining they are conducting, we have already lost the war. Furthermore, it is now crystal clear if
we allow one administration to “encroach” on these freedoms, the next will take
it even further.
I also wonder, with the IRS targeting conservative groups,
have we moved beyond Orwellian circumstances, and fallen into what I was raised
to believe an unacceptable form of government – Communism - disguised as national security protection?
By SB
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