Does the US Government do this anymore? No, it doesn't. Period.
Historical facts fight against your argument. The US Government has permanently given up powers to respect the privacy of citizens. I can come up with more historic examples if you wish.
Maybe we don't we eye-to-eye: I find your comment ridiculous.
Does the government do what exactly? You are aware they are slurping 100% of digital communications? In light of what has been confirmed by Snowden's efforts - I can't take your comment seriously.
Office of Censorship would delete and manipulate documents to aid in the war propaganda effort in the 1940s. Its pretty different than what is going on today.
You're confusing the walking back of an extreme overstep with a fundamental change in direction.
You can't cherry pick a couple of examples of where extreme power grabs were curtailed and say, "See, the government is giving up power!" You're looking at local down trends in an overall upward curve and declaring the whole thing to have a negative slope.
In order to make your case, you'd need to start with the Constitution and the strict limits that it placed on the Federal government and map that to the authority it exercises today. The trend is in the opposite direction you're thinking of.
Do you think citizens have more, or less rights today than in 1789? When the Bill of Rights was first drafted?
I believe we have more rights today, as a historical fact. We can easily create Corporations. Almost anyone can vote, Black, white, or women. The original 13 colonies drafted their soldiers into militia, while today the Draft has been completely eradicated. (ditto for the Civil War). Before 1960, freedom of press is compromised if there was a "reasonable tendency" to endanger society. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_tendency)
Are you seriously telling me, that we were "more free" in 1790s than today? If we were still operating in 1900s era law, we wouldn't even be allowed to talk about strikes, due to the "bad tendency" measure. (A man was in-fact arrested and put into jail for inciting a strike in the 1910s)
And yes, I'll call you "boy" until you understand simple US History. "Boys" believe in the ideal past, a past that _never existed_. Boys are unable to see how much this country has grown, and how much better it is today than before.
Does the US Government do this anymore? No, it doesn't. Period.
Historical facts fight against your argument. The US Government has permanently given up powers to respect the privacy of citizens. I can come up with more historic examples if you wish.