what do Americans think about the NSA scandal

[Jester]

I know we differ somewhat on the definition of "serfdom".

Probably? I'm going with the definition of someone who is bound to the land, and owes either corvee labour or quit rent, to either a landlord or to the state.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/serf

Got another definition?

It was more of an observation we've made here many times that an ignorant, distracted, uninformed, and otherwise apathetic electorate is likely to jump on the latest band wagon, and vote away liberties based upon passions, rather than relying on their principles. Our elections are Hollywood, our candidates are photogenic, and they, like us, have no principles. The only plan I see in governance is pacification.

A bit of democratic bandwagon-jumping is not the same as an inevitable degeneration into totalitarianism. Indignity is bad and stupidity is stupid. But totalitarianism has killed tens of millions.

Generally, the gist is that I'm just tired of people ignorantly tolerating "security theater" because it gives them warm fuzziness. We are paying people to strip search us when we travel, and busy building zeta byte server farms in Utah to store the collected drivel of the net, and this is why we can't have nice roads, better schools and retirement.

I agree with the first bit. I don't see what it has to do with retirement, roads, and schools. What % of the budget goes to the NSA? Very little. A small tax increase, or a redirection of the unbelievably large military budget, would have a much larger impact than eliminating security theatre.

-Jester