A Letter to the U.S.A. by President George Washington

 A Letter to My Fellow Citizens on Liberty and the Peril of Modern Surveillance

Mount Vernon,
This Ninth Day of December, in the Year 2024

To the Citizens of the United States,

It is with profound concern that I observe the evolving instruments of modern governance and commerce, particularly those which have the power to peer into the lives of private citizens. While the fruits of ingenuity and innovation have enriched our nation in many respects, they also present dangers that demand vigilance equal to our reverence for liberty.

Consider the vast apparatus assembled by entities such as the corporation known as Google, whose reach spans continents and whose dominion over the exchange of information rivals the imagination itself. This private empire, through its mastery of digital records and communication, has forged a repository of knowledge about the citizenry that no monarch of my age could have conceived. When joined in purpose with the National Security Agency, whose mandate is to protect but whose means are veiled in secrecy, there arises a combination that threatens to undermine the very principles upon which our republic was founded.

Let it be remembered that the liberties of a people are rarely taken in a single blow, but rather are surrendered in small measures, oft under the guise of security and convenience. These entities, public and private, may well claim their purpose is benign, even noble. Yet, power unchecked by transparency and accountability becomes, in time, a force of oppression.

I caution that the union of private corporate interests and state surveillance creates a new form of centralization that demands our scrutiny. It is not for governments or enterprises to monitor the private habits of the people without their explicit consent. The collection of private correspondence, the mapping of human interactions, and the analysis of individual inclinations, conducted without oversight or recourse, must be viewed as a betrayal of the trust inherent in a free society.

We, as a nation, have long understood the delicate balance between liberty and security. The latter must not consume the former, lest we find ourselves enslaved by the very mechanisms we devised for our protection. To surrender our freedoms, even in part, is to dishonor the sacrifices of those who fought for the birth of this nation.

To those in positions of authority within government and enterprise, I beseech you: consider the trust placed in you by the people. Use it wisely and with restraint, for the moment you prioritize power over principle, you render the republic hollow.

To my fellow citizens, I say this: cherish your liberties, and guard them jealously. Demand transparency and accountability from those who wield power. For it is through the vigilance of the people, and not the goodwill of the powerful, that freedom is preserved.

May this nation continue to be a beacon of liberty, guided not by fear, but by the eternal principles of justice, equality, and the rights of man.

I remain your humble servant,
George Washington