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The National Security State Simply Isn’t a Winning Issue for Politicians—On Either Side of the Aisle

Kris Tripplaar

It’s been just over a year since Edward Snowden released volumes of secret NSA documents. Since then, politicians from across the spectrum have voiced opposition to the agency’s invasions of privacy. Voters, Slate’s David Weigel argues, just see the secret programs as another example of broad government incompetence. Nevertheless, no one—neither politicians nor voters—has been able to do much about it. Inertia still holds them back.

Here’s Weigel explaining the challenges politicians face on national security and what they mean for likely 2016 candidates: