I see innumerable news articles detailing the latest revelations from Edward Snowden, and a blizzard of pieces calling for leniency or a pardon for the world’s most famous whistleblower – but in the comments sections, including of my own columns on the subject, I find expressions of seemingly hopeless despair: "Yes, but what can we do about it?"

The answer: take action at the local level. Use as a model the efforts of California libertarian activists who have lobbied state Senators Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) and Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) to introduce the Fourth Amendment Protection Act forbidding any state support to the National Security Agency.

"I agree with the NSA that the world is a dangerous place,” says Lieu, “That is why our founders enacted the Bill of Rights. They understood the grave dangers of an out-of-control federal government."