It's certainly better than the opposite, where citizens and residents are scared of their government, which wields the power to deprive them of their freedom, possessions, and life.
A guillotine once in a while for some politicians/bureaucrats will do some good. There is a rich history of the French doing it. I'm not even trying to be funny.
I don't think it is "scared" as much as just the usual human desire to do whatever the task is ... without thinking of the consequences.
It's a very unwise position Vance takes.
The world would clearly be better run if all governments feared their people, than it would if all people fear their governments.
The UK can pull this kind of stuff precisely because they do not fear any consequences from their people.
They are not scared of people, but of working, doing their job, especially when it is difficult (catching criminals). They expect the job to be done for them by others, on the expense of everyone, while they collecting all the praise.
On sympathetic to Vance I did not really found a presentable reaction, would not find on any other accidentally agreeable sentence leaving his mouth (very low chance btw.). Talking a lot about all kind of things sooner or later will hit something acceptable, which will not yield an unacceptable and destructive to society figure sympathetic.
You also should be aware of practices and conducts the various US security services practice (and probably all governemnts out there), if not from news or law but at least from the movies. When we come to the topic of who is afraid of their own.
Basically instead of doing their jobs, the cops expect Apple, Meta et al to intercept all the data, then feed it into some kind of AI black box (not done by them but contracted out to someone else at the taxpayer's expense) that will then decide if you get arrested within the next 48H (I am exaggerating but only slightly)
What are the cops doing instead of doing their jobs? That's my question. Aren't they paid to go out and catch the criminals or do they simply expect to get the identity of people each day that need to be investigated?
Face it: bugging your smartphone is a bipartisan effort. Nothing we've seen from the past 30 years of presidential administrations indicates otherwise. JD Vance is the pot calling the kettle black, and he knows it too.
> This site really confuses me nowadays.
That much is worth agreeing on.
As a very privacy-oriented European I don't need American alt-right populists to concern troll about surveillance and privacy in Europe.