The government should and do fear the people.As I stated,what do you do with something you fear.
That's only if you base your life on fear. That Amygdala-based response has been around for maybe a couple of billion years and what's come out of it except fossils?
In the last maybe 1000 years, there has been real progress in the human race, and none of it based on fear.
Did the Berlin Philharmonic fear Herbert Von Karajan? Did Albert Einstein fear his students or faculty? Can you tell me what Nikola Tesla was afraid of? How about Sir Isaac Newton? Michelangelo? Socrates? Thomas Jefferson? Ludwig van Beethoven? Rene Descartes? Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz? Johann Wolfgang von Goethe?
Human progress, all that makes us truly great has nothing to do with fear. Fear is a primal response; there is a whole other dimension to human thought - centered in the neo-cortex, and manifested in what we call civilization.
We are the government - all of us. I personally know federal governmental leaders, including some in Congress and retired ones. They're decent people with a very difficult set of parameters to work in. Mind I didn't say all of them are like that. It's 100 times worse than being on the school board. I have influenced the course of government; not for personal gain (which makes it easier) but for folks in general - older people, veterans, the poor, and some that need recognition for selfless service to others.
When I said that Paul was "droning on and on", the pun was intended. It's hard for me to believe that many who criticize our government for using drones would do so if the other party was in power. I've followed the wars we've been in since the 90's, and there was nary a peep from the same folks who are crying the loudest now.
If the same operation was carried out against American citizens, there would be no end of outrage. President Obama didn't comment on it simply because of that. It's not an option, and is only a pointless political accusation. In the wake of Bin Laden's end by Seal Team 6, my Inbox was full of idiotic comments like "it wasn't really him", "It didn't really happen", "Obama was wrong in invading Pakistan", and my favorite from Rush Limbaugh, "Barack Obama owes us an apology." For taking out Bin Laden? The terrorist who killed 3,000 Americans on American soil?
It's as though they sat around seeing who could take the most stupid pills, sniff the most laughing gas, and seeing who could come up with the most preposterous nonsense, the only purpose of which was the discredit President Obama for the act that even Bill O’Reilly said "because I do believe the President did a gutsy, good job on this.” He did, by any standard. Like Seal Team Six, when the chips were down, he came through.
When we don't all pull together, we all lose. I don't fear death, but I do fear the "French Revolution" (really violent and insane anarchy) and the destruction of all the gains of Civilization for the last 1,000 years. Is it really worth all that just to hate your fellow citizen?