Although there are many Americans who hate that the NSA is snooping on them, there are many Americans who don’t seem to care. Citizens who are nonplussed and indifferent about it often use the “I-have-nothing-to-hide” excuse for their attitude. But if things progress the way they have been with the government expanding its snooping capabilities while in front of the media they give false promises about reforming their practices, the indifferent may eventually find themselves in a world of hurt. Especially since the “I-have-nothing-to-hide” excuse is never an excuse for the government to violate the Fourth Amendment.
The Bill of Rights were established to protect us from rogue, power-hungry agents and agencies who may want to abuse their power and skirt proper procedures for their own gain at the expense of someone who is law-abiding. Even if we have nothing to hide, there are certain things which are just nobody’s business but our own and we have the right to keep it our own business. When we claim we have nothing to hide, we are giving the control freaks power over our person to make the decision for us as to whether we have something to hide and we leave ourselves open to trumped-up charges.
For instance, a police officer in the Milwaukee area was recently charged with misconduct. This was due to an incident in 2009 when he falsely arrested a woman who was working as a stripper. Her line of work may have been immoral although legal, but the officer falsely claimed he had an arrest warrant on her then did an illegal search of her property and falsely claimed he found traces of cocaine in her belongings. When he took her to the police station, he took improper photos of her that weren’t consistent with mug shots, failed to fingerprint her, and slipped his personal number to her before she was carted off to jail on his trumped-up charges. She ended up unable to post bail on those false charges and spent 52 days in jail because of it. It is only years later that the whole incident will be brought to trial. Yet, the young lady had nothing to hide.
Then there’s the case of Marcus Jeter of New Jersey who was pulled over on a highway by police officers who were looking for someone to bully. When Jeter saw the cops, he immediately pulled over and put his hands up, but the officers falsely charged him with resisting, assault, and a whole host of other trumped-up charges. Jeter explained everything that happened and how the police brutalized him, but not even his attorney believed him until a police surveillance video surfaced proving Jeter’s innocence and the officers’ misconduct. All charges were dropped against Jeter, and now the cops are answering for their crimes. While Jeter was being watched and investigated, the real guilty parties were roaming freely when Jeter had nothing to hide.
Let’s look at this from a Biblical perspective. What if the wise men had decided they had nothing to hide when it came to the location of the Christ child in spite of God’s dream? What if chief captain Claudius Lysias decided he had nothing to hide from the Sanhedrin about their request to interrogate Paul as a pretext for their assassination plot against the apostle (Acts 23:12-22)? These incidents show us today that since crooked people are often in places of power, it’s in our best interest to keep them in the dark about some things.
Harry A. Gaylord
sunandshield.wordpress.com 
Good post Harry. The “I-have-nothing-to-hide” mentality indicates individuals haven’t thought very much on the issue. It is the accomplished Catholic historian Lord Acton who is credited with saying “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. A Holocaust survivor I listened to once said that the Jews didn’t flee Germany because it “couldn’t happen here” and they found to their horror that it could. By the way I don’t know if you have heard but there has recently been an excellent documentary released by PBS called “Vatican Secrets”, at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/secrets-of-the-vatican/ . It deals with how poorly the Roman Catholic Church has dealt with the clergy sexual abuse scandal and also the difference between Catholic and Protestant clergy in regards to sexual abuse. I have written on it several times at http://salmovapress.com/pauls-blog-2, if folks want some analysis of it.
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Hey, Paul. I hadn’t heard about the PBS documentary so thanks for pointing it out. I’ll have to check it out as well as your blog post.
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Hello Harry i pray everything is going well. i just stumbled across this site that supports old-age earth thought it might be interesting http://questioninganswersingenesis.blogspot.com.au/2012_10_01_archive.html
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I am a firsthand living and breathing witness they will trump up false charges against people to suit their own agenda as it is happening to me. A ticket for, alleged, speeding was issued against me, years ago, and I, vigilantly and with unwavering conviction, asserted and maintained my rights, without being belligerent or combative, when I went before the judge. The case ended up being adjourned on more than one occasion by the court and my driver license was, eventually, suspended although I went before the judge. Unbeknownst to me, about five months later, the same officer who pulled me over, issued me the speeding ticket, and let me go, without arrest, went to the same judge that I went before about the speeding ticket and sought a warrant for my arrest for Criminal Impersonation of a Public Servant-2nd. However, in his police report, he stated, in writing, that I identified myself with a driver license with MY name on it. I never said that I was anyone else on or gave a false name on the day that I was issued the ticket, not arrested, and let go. I did, however, did not roll my window down all the way down and told the officer that I was concerned for my safety because I had seen instances of where some stops did not go too well and ended in police brutality. I, also, vigilantly and with conviction, non-combatively, and non-belligerently, assert and maintain my rights at that traffic stop, too. Believe it or not, I am still going through the matter in the same court as I was, finally, able to get a lawyer last month who went to court with me. All the while, I am thinking the matter was for a ticket and the lawyer found out and told me, last month, about the criminal charge. They, only, hold court twice a month in that town and as soon as I found out about the charge, my lawyer said we’d, voluntarily, go to the court after he contacted them about the matter. Ever since I was issued the ticket, I was in constant contact with the court, in writing, re-asserting my rights and maintaining my innocence. However, the DA told the judge that I was running and hiding. I asked my lawyer how I could be running and hiding when the court had an address to contact me since I was sending in paperwork with current addresses to them. Anyways, I was arrested and had to post bail after the lawyer and I showed at court and I am awaiting my next court date. My faith in the justice system is, completely, gone. So, for those folks who claim that they have nothing to hide, they are ignorant to the fact that they can be, unjustly, turned into criminals with the stroke of a pen. That is what they fail to see. This world has gotten to be more evil and the evil seems to be accelerating at a faster pace each day. Those who don’t notice are, probably, participating in upholding the matrix, indifferent, or just ignorant and deceived. If we have absolute rights, how is it that we have to fight for them, who are we fighting, and why? Finally, if people do not have a problem with letting evil, darkness, and hate reside within them, then, they should not complain when the same goes on around them. I am very concerned for humanity, but, I have no choice other than to keep my faith in the Creator of All.
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Tessa,
It’s crazy that you’ve had to go through this. Cases like yours are stacking up across the country because ultimately our government (both Dems and Repubs) want to exercise complete unfettered control over us as if we’re their slaves and one of the tools they wish to use is the criminalization of everyone except the well-connected and very wealthy. So there are cases like this guy who steals half a million from the town where he held office and gets recommended for probation instead of jail time: http://www.northjersey.com/news/ex-ridgewood-inspector-gets-probation-after-stealing-nearly-half-million-in-quarters-1.748235
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