I was glued to the TV this morning — as I assume many of our readers were — as the president announced changes to be made to NSA surveillance activities, especially in the collection of phone records. I have also been very interested during the past few months in the issue of national security vs. privacy rights, as I know most of our readers have been.
That is why I was surprised to read about a recent Gallup poll that shows a clear majority of Americans (63 percent) to be dissatisfied with the state of the nation as it pertains to government surveillance of U.S. citizens, but that it ranks low on the list of priorities they’d like to see Congress and the president address in the next year: “Just 42 percent say it is an extremely or very important priority — placing it lower than more than a dozen other matters,” according to the Washington Post.
The author of the Post’s column, Sean Sullivan, publishes a chart that shows Americans’ “priority of and dissatisfaction with major issues,” reflecting:
Only the state of the nation regarding the economy, poverty and homelessness are held in lower regard by the public than surveillance of Americans. And only abortion, race relations and acceptance of gays and lesbians are seen as lower priorities for Congress and Obama to deal with.
Obviously, Sullivan has not been reading The Moderate Voice.
See the chart and read the column here.
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