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In reply to the discussion: Secret US flight flew over Scottish airspace to capture Snowden [View all]davidthegnome
(2,983 posts)We both know the logical fallacy there, though.
To be honest, I don't know all of the details of the foreign operations information he revealed. What I'm concerned about is the privacy and civil rights of American citizens. To me, anyone who protects that, is someone I would stand with, this is my home, these are my people. Therefor, Snowden gets my support, at least for that, because that's a big part of what Patriotism is, standing up to power (particularly abused/misused power) in support of your own Country and it's people.
Every Nation spies on every Nation, as much as it can get away with. When it comes to spying on our own though... think of the endless possibilities if that power isn't kept in check. Are members of congress being blackmailed right now through some of this information gathering? How about the Senate? Is it being used to threaten honest American citizens? How can we know if and when this happens? Typically, it is only when someone from the inside blows the whistle - and that's what Snowden did, in letting us know, to some extent, just what the heck was going on.
As for his personal motivations and/or ambitions, I don't know what they are and can only speculate. Whatever they might be though - and whatever else he might have revealed, it can't be denied that our government and it's security operations have severely over-reached. The Patriot Act, under different names, continues to be maintained, even by a Democratic President who is a student of Constitutional law, who damn well ought to know better.
I fear there will be a price to pay for this in years to come. I fear there has already been all manner of illegal information gathering that has likely been put to purposes that none of us would approve of.
American safety, even from our own Government, is something that concerns me deeply. I'm not one of those Right wing militia nuts that's calling for revolution, but any student of history - and anyone of any sense, ought to be concerned about the power of government. They have no right to my personal information without a warrant, without some legit purpose as for why it's being gathered, without going through the legal process in order to gather it. That process has become all too flimsy.