Democracy has flourished in the United States for several reasons. One of these major reasons has been privacy. Americans have been allowed to go about their business without much tampering from the government. This is key in stabilizing a democracy, because it coincides with capitalism. If you to look at today’s Communist countries, such as China, they tend to know everything about their citizens, and it gives the sense of, “Big Brother is always watching.” If the government is always watching it gives the government leverage over the people. Some people would not vote if threatened that their private information would become public. This is seen in the film State of play when Cal blackmails Dominic Foy into talking about PointCorp. Foy is forced into giving information to Cal. This is exactly the opposite of what Democracy promotes. Democracy allows individuals to make decisions based on their beliefs and morals. When there is a breach of privacy, whether that is from the government or your every average day person, it tends to lead to corruption. Blackmail is the most common form of this corruption. Dominic was going to remain anonymous in this investigation, but one surveillance photo of him jeopardized his reputation and his job. His arm was twisted, and he changed his beliefs. Imagine this done large scale by corrupt politicians. Voting could almost become a large scale blackmailing ring. This happens sometimes in America, but it is usually not large scale. Surveillance is a privilege that Americans are able to enjoy now, but if let out of control, it could become the world George Orwell created in his novel 1984.
Your point about leverage is good. Watch the movie Inside Job and find out what is going on on a large, very large scale. Don't think loss of privacy is going on on a small scale either.
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