My grandpa always used to think the government was stealing from him. Of course he was referring to the theft of his hard-earned tax dollars. Today, more than ever, Americans are skeptical of their government – and for good reason.

While I think Edward Snowden, the guy who published highly-classified information should be charged with treason and spend the rest of his life behind bars, he did uncover an incredible job of theft being perpetrated by our government.

Do you believe that the government collection of data on virtually every aspect of our lives is a theft of our personal privacy? Is this George Orwell’s “Big Brother” come to life?

There seems to be little in the form of defense against a very aggressive US government position that it needs all of this information in order to keep us all safe.

As a counselor for both in-class and online stop theft classes I asked this question of my students the other day. Not surprisingly almost all (90%) thought the government had stolen our right to privacy. This is an important topic and I would greatly like to hear your thoughts.