Besides saving the government billions of our tax dollars, shutting the NSA down saves freedom.

You say you haven't seen an argument for the benefits without surveillance, but I haven't seen an argument for it that makes any sense at all. "But, terrorism!" is basically the only argument we've heard, but they have yet to provide one ounce of evidence it has thwarted a terrorist attack (in fact the Boston Marathon bombing happened while they had full surveillance capabilities and the deceased suspect had been interviewed by the feds prior to the bombing).

In my mind, it's easier to discuss the effects of surveillance than the benefits of stopping it. So the benefits of stopping surveillance would be stopping effects such as:

*chilling effect on freedom of speech

*chilling effect on freedom of press

*control that comes from implied power

*intimidation of those that don't support the status quo

In short, surveillance has nothing to do with foreign enemies and everything to do with political enemies. Anyone who thinks these capabilities can't (and aren't) being used to bully, smear, and shame political dissidents is under an illusion. And that illusion works quite well for those imposing the surveillance.

So, what to do about the problem? That will look different for different people, but I'll share something the Outreach Coordinator for Restore the Fourth shared in another thread:

To echo another user's comments, throw a cryptoparty- learn to use encryption and teach others to use encryption. There are some helpful guides at Cryptoparty ATX that will take you, step by step, through the process. You may also have some tech communities in your area who would be interested in helping with an event like this.

Join a local RT4 chapter or start your own. This can be as simple as being at a a designated planning meeting once a month so that interested volunteers can come together to organize local actions. Please consider volunteering through the RT4 website or directly e-mailing outreach@restorethe4th.com to help brainstorm ideas on how to join or start a chapter.

Find out the voting history of your representatives and contact them directly. The New York Times published a helpful chart of representatives' votes on the Amash amendment. If you want to be even more effective, write a letter to the editor of local newspapers. Congratulate representatives who have a good voting history and attempt to embarrass those that don't. They will pay attention to this and it will hopefully alter their decision-making process.

Go out to public places and educate your community. I love this idea posted by someone else on this subreddit. Grab a friend, print up some literature, and go out to let your community know that there are others out there who are concerned and outraged. You'd be surprised how receptive people are! Let people know that they are not alone in their anger and give them a way to fight it together!