Then they got excited about Echelon and forgot about it.
Then they got worked up about FISA and forgot about it.
It should come as no surprise that the NSA continues to collect data.
That is a sideshow for Snowden's blindingly obvious true agenda.
It sounds as though your saying, “Yawn, the governments gonna collect what they collect, gonna snoop...get over it.”
There are two totally separate issues here, connected to be sure.
First, did Snowden commit treason or was his actions constitutional provided the government violated the constitution?
Second, if the government setup a secret shadow government to spy and collect data on law abiding citizens from tweets to financial records w/o probable cause...are they violating the constitution and denying Americans their liberties guaranteed under the constitution?
I submit to you that if the government is indeed violating the constitution and Snowden witnessed multiple violations, this would make him a whistleblower, not a traitor.
If Snowden traveled out of the country and gave classified intelligence to a foreign country, this would be a treasonous act.
For me, it all comes down to the ol cliche, well Uncle Sugar, if you didn't do anything wrong, what’cha got to hide? They do it to us, so what's good for the goose...