Bureaucracy

One of the more interesting and surprising aspects of the Snowden releases was that members of congress were unaware of the massive surveillance programs undertaken by the NSA. These are the elected people who are supposed to oversee the activities of the unelected. Once again the bureaucrats are exposed as running the country behind the scenes. We see this on a regular basis when the various government departments refuse to turn over information or slow walk the turnover. The bureaucrats running these departments seem to have no fear of reprisal. The press which is supposed to be the protectors of democracy are fearful that the government has dope on them so they stay on the sidelines and just report what is handed to them. In the current election there are claims on both sides that democracy is threatened but this claim can also be made against the bureaucracy.