Posted on 05/30/2014 7:48:21 PM PDT by Dave346
The NSA spies on their enemies, not our enemies.
“Snowden is a TRAITOR. If you libertarian idiots cant grasp that simple fact I have nothing to say..other than stop calling yourselves Conservatives..”
Well, that accusation is totally a matter of perspective.
In a well oiled US government, without worry of constitutional rewriting to fit the situation, I would say probably so. But today is not that day.
There is a phrase used in every language, in every era and every country where a political revolution is in the making for just cause.
I’ll paraphrase as best I can. But it’s been said in many different ways, all with the same meaning and intent.
“When dictatorship is a fact revolution is a duty.”
The problem is that the government in return "gave him their word" to serve and protect US citizens.
For example, you get a job as a security guard at a typical medical office and sign a standard contract that orders you to maintain privacy of what's going behind the closed doors. Once you start your job you discover that this business is an illegal organ harvesting center. Will you break your contract to report the crime?
One can say that the government trumps the private contract, and the government is the topmost authority in this world - and its actions cannot be questioned. But quite a few people would be quick to point out that there is a higher authority:
Explosive revelations by National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, documenting illegal government spying, are an unprecedented gift to truth and freedom.* They add wind to the sails of those who have labored to inform the public of the massive surveillance and wiretapping by our government on US citizens. Yet is Snowden a hero or a traitor? World opinion seems almost evenly divided. Many leaders and authorities say he is a hero; but Pres. Obama and Republican backers of the CISPA bill, which would legalize much of the spying Snowden has exposed, believe he should be convicted of treason and espionage.At times like this, the Bible—ethical keel of Western civilization for millennia—must weigh in. Society needs a higher authority than opinion polls, federal law or precedents set by activist judges. Violation of law for the sake of vital good is an option within the redemptive nature of Biblical ethics. Jesus said it is lawful to do good. As Creator and Architect of salvation, Jesus Himself violated the eternal law that God will not coexist with sin. He gave free will to angelic and human beings, allowing potential for the most grievous rebellion for an ultimately greater good: that we might choose for Christ and live with God forever.
[...] Jesus, the "Yahweh" of the Old Testament, also violated His own Mosaic law against working on the Sabbath when He healed a man blind from birth, horrifying the legalistic, ruling Pharisees. Hungry, Christ harvested handfuls of grain with His disciples on the Sabbath, illegal under the Mosaic Law. He said man was not made for the law but the law for man. He challenged the Pharisees, saying if their ox fell into a ditch on the Sabbath they would pull it out. Similarly, He righteously lifted a blind man out of the lifetime ditch of sightlessness, even though that broke the law.
Obedient, unthinking following of orders did not work in Nuremberg. It should not work anywhere else either. Every order of a human being, or of a group of humans, may and should be questioned for compatibility with Christian ethics, as humans are fallible (and highly so.) If we all do that, the world will become better, and evil will be unable to propagate. Defeat the Stanford Prison Experiment.
The US UCMJ requires those subject to it to obey Lawful Orders. Mr. Snowden, in a similar circumstance, apparently felt compelled to go outside of the Chain of command and bring his story to the US people. It does not improve my safety to have the government reading my mail or listening to my phone conversations.
You would have been quite at home in late 30's Germany.
Snowden is a Patriot for exposing the wholly unconstitutional acts of the NSA.
You are a total fool for believing that those at the highest levels of our government cherish our Constitution. They are the traitors.
Again Snowden is a Patriot for exposing the evils of our government.
P.S. Tell Karl Rove hi! He said about the same thing as you -- elites would think Snowden a traitor. A traitor to their love of State Power.
LOL. you truly are naive. They may be leaking and we would NEVER know. Thanks for the laugh.
Clinton was selling them to the Chinese!!
Now, that's a hoot!
>> Other than the government saying he has done irreparable harm
He certainly damaged the image of the NSA.
Concerning documented evidence disseminated by Snowden, is any of it in the public domain?
>> Obedient, unthinking following of orders did not work in Nuremberg
That’s an egregious analogy.
For the sake of argument assume you get your Libertarian Constitutional Republic. The new government goes out and staffs itself with folks who have no allegiance to anything but their own view of what the Constitution says. Therefore they have no obligation to keep the secrets of the new government secure.
How long will it last? The belief that integrity and honor can be disregarded by anyone entrusted with state secrets is astonishingly naive
>> Libertarian Constitutional Republic.
We can have that along with the intel agencies.
A traitor is defined as giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Snowden revealed to the people what the NSA has been doing. If the people are the enemy, I guess that makes him a traitor... But that also means the government is our enemy, because the enemy of our enemy is our friend. You can’t have it both ways.
There's a big difference between "his country" and the Regime (that's the USG for those federal employees in Rio Linda).
LOL Almost everyone at the top in this administration absolute loathes the American way of life and our Constitution.
Snowden is more of a Patriot that Obama and his entire cabinet could ever hope to be.
Do you know understand or see that Obama is dismantling our Republic from within?
How long will it last? The belief that integrity and honor can be disregarded by anyone entrusted with state secrets is astonishingly naive
your statement is illogical. It makes absolutely no sense.
You think like someone stuck in a D.C. centric point of view.
Your comments eerily parallel those of Karl Rove and other GOPe pukes. Scary.
Perspective, perspective, perspective. You seem to imply that Snowden will reveal some "magical" secrets that will destroy us. How utterly naive.
Just what the H*ll U.S. destroying secret can you speculate that Snowden revealed to our enemies? Please tell me a single one?
Again I consider Snowden a patriot for revealing the unconstitutional acts being carried our by the NSA against the citizens of the United States.
No he did not. Those in the NSA who knew they were undertaking wholly unconstitutional acts by their extensive data collection were the one's who did the damage...
The damage is well deserved. This agency will turn very, very evil if the right people are in charge.
Is there any verifiable evidence to support your point?
If you’re right, of course you’re making a valid point.
His peers would be people of great intellect, who were willing to risk their fortunes, freedom and lives to secure for the people the liberties and rights spelled out in the constitution.
People of such quality are a scarce type, an example of the type you will find below.
Not Snowden who should meet a firing squad...
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