Government strength is relative. Weakening the American government is equivalent to strengthening other Governments. Would you mind telling us which ones you prefer and why they are morally superior?
Several wise men have pointed out the potential foolishness of trading liberty for the pursuit of security. It's not that other countries are morally superior. It's that the government is committing morally dubious acts in my name, and I object.
Weakening the American government is equivalent to strengthening other Governments.
No, building petabyte-scale data centers to spy on you and me is what's weakening the American government. We're not the problem, right?
The NSA is like the drunk who looks for his lost keys under the lamppost, "because that's where the light is." Not only does the American government's idea of a hypersecure state not make us any more free, there's vanishingly little evidence that it accomplishes its purpose of making us any more secure.
The lack of evidence isn't surprising given that they are a spy agency. They may not be protecting the US from terrorism, but there are major geopolitical adversaries at work who have no scruples about using cyberwarfare techniques. There is something akin to the Cold War in play, and the NSA is a significant part of the US's position in that war.
We could take a 9/11 in the shorts every year, for what we spend on the tiger-proof rocks sold by the Intelligence Community.
That sounds like a fair trade considering the cost in human lives... except that there's no evidence we're "trading" anything but our own treasure and freedom.