It's a bad thing that the massive government surveillance system designed to protect us from terrorism was revealed. It's a good thing the massive government surveillance system designed to protect us from terrorism was revealed.

It's bad because when dealing with an elusive foe who is more than willing to hide behind civilians and who is willing to die to kill innocent civilians America needs every tool it can muster.

It's good because this administration has shown that it can't be trusted. From the misuse of government data to harass "Joe the Plumber" to using the IRS and EPA to punish Obama's enemies the administration has shown that they are more than willing to use any and all of the powers of government to illegally persecute the people on Obama's enemies list.

In the sense of corruption and misuse of power Obama is Nixon done right. Nixon tried to misuse the government but the reality is his bumbling attempts never worked; which is a good thing. Obama on the other hand managed to use the IRS to significantly impact the 2012 election and is currently using the HHS mandate to drive religious groups who oppose his genocidal abortion policies -- the largest single cause of death for Blacks is abortion -- out of the health-care business.

People of good intent can disagree on the level of surveillance that is either necessary or acceptable in our society in the face of Muslim terrorism. However no reasonable person can say that an administration that has repeatedly chosen to take the low road and use the power of government to reward friends and punish those who disagree with the administration can be trusted with the phone records of every American including congressmen.

Even if the Obama administration hasn't abused the information gained from this massive spy program the mere fact Obama has access to the data will chill both free speech and the willingness of people to work against Obama's objectives.

Do the math. People from the Tea Party to a Catholic professor have been harassed by the IRS because those people didn't toe the Obama line. If someone is thinking of speaking out against Obama is it unreasonable for them to wonder what else Obama might do other than sic the IRS on them?

If Obama can know pretty much everything any American s doing without a specific cause only those who know there is nothing in their actions going back years that would even look bad will feel free to speak out. As we saw with "Joe the Plumber" Obama is willing to go to any length in terms of personal destruction to neutralize those who don't like Obama's vision of America and have the temerity to speak out.

If there is any doubt about the depths to which Obama will go, remember that Obama won his senate seat because his opponents "sealed" divorce records were magically unsealed at just the right moment to drive Jack Ryan, whom Obama couldn't beat based on merit, out of the running.

If Obama is willing to expose private divorce records to get a political edge is there any doubt that he'd be willing to misuse the data the NSA is collecting to keep America safe in a similar manner?

It's sad but true that we must give up some of our security because we can't trust the government but the reality is that enshrining an Obama style Chicago thug government would do more damage to America than many terrorist attacks.

You can read more of tom's rants at his blog, Conversations about the obvious and feel free to follow him on Twitter