Snowden brought to light only that which was of significant and even immense assistance to the very people, groups, and countries that want to destroy America and, yes, to kill every single American given the chance. He also tossed bones to the American public to turn that public against its own government.
The overwhelming material that Snowden stole was of top secret MILITARY INFORMATION involving, as much as anything, the coordinated activities of other, allied nations against totalitarian and semi-totalitarian regimes—such, as for instance, Sweden's formerly unknown and secret monitoring of Russian military communications.
Snowden did not try to flee to a single country that is considered a free country as represented by existing freedom of the press. They were all outright or de facto enemies of the U. S. He tried to go, in order, to Cuba, Ecuador, China, and ended up in Russia—where he may have intended to end up from the beginning. There he has served as a servile propagandist, emitting in his self-righteous and degenerate rants to the naive worldwide not a peep about the repression, the outright spying on , and the continual assassinations of Russians who publicly indicate opposition to the repressive and murderous Putin regime.
Snowden is a modern reincarnation of the infamous “Tokyo Rose” and “Lord Ha-Ha”, propagandists for imperial Japan and Nazi Germany in World War II. How anyone can make him a guiding star is a puzzle of psychological pathology. It's unfortunate his admirers can not spend just a little time with him in his chosen setting: they would quickly learn what freedom is all about and that, yes, a free country has the right to defend itself and damn well better do that if it wants to survive.
Your reply is almost entirely “Snowden” and all the diversions that go with. That’s a fundamental tactic when trying to argue for an act of ill-considered beginnings and even more dubious implementation and practice, AGAINST what I clearly spelled out in my reply as legitimate founding reason in our Bill or Rights.
I am saying that this (surveillance) is just one more straw on the back of the American camel, and you have now way of knowing this government ruled by a tyrant is telling or will ever tell you the truth. You can believe it or don’t but don’t try to put this all off an argument about Snowden. I gave you my reasons about the disparities in testimony by NSA, by other agencies about metadata and the ins and outs. Your choice is to believe or disbelieve it. I don’t have to lead you to the water.