Thank You Edward Snowden

I spent the last couple of weeks in Europe (The Netherlands and France to be specific) and followed the Edward Snowden saga on BBC and CNN International. When I got home, the American networks made me wonder if I was following the same story. Suffice it to say, the US and European stories contrast significantly. In Europe, Mr. Snowden was portrayed as a whistleblower who's conscience forced him to abandon his life (and lucrative career) to do what he thought he must to protect the privacy of his fellow citizens. Here in the "Land of the free", the press and politicians treat him like a despicable traitor of the John Walker/Benedict Arnold ilk.

It's been kind of funny watching the newsies get all twisted up about the latest "traitor" in our midst (Well, kinda. He's bugged out to Russia at the moment.) For the life of me, I can't get upset with Mr. Snowden. It would be different if he were some introverted nutjob hacking government computers from his mother's basement, but everything I've learned tells me he's just the opposite. Mr. Snowden is(was) an industrious, semi-genius thirty-something working a highly technical job contracting for a tech firm that does work for one or more government security agencies. He walked away from a six-figure gig in Hawaii because his conscience wouldn't let him stand by while our benevolent government spied on its own law-abiding citizens. I wish there were a few hundred more just like him scattered about in the various alphabet soup agencies who've taken it upon themselves to wipe their collective butts with our Constitution.

Taken alone, the Snowden story would be big, but in the context of other current events involving misbehaving government agencies, it may become the "final straw" for the American people. That is, if any of them are paying attention . A big "if", I know (I'm not holding my breath). Without doing any research, I can think of a few incidents off the top of my head. Let's see, 1) the IRS is being used as a political weapon to target opponents of the current administration with audits, fines and a number of other harassments, 2) the GAO says "Obamacare" will raise insurance premiums as much as 88%, 3) the national debt is turning our dollar into something resembling a peso, 4) the "Patriot Act" gets extended by our feckless congress allowing the government to treat us like criminals at airports, imprison and spy on us without due process and...

You get the point.

Now Edward Snowden witnesses first hand what he reports as criminal spying on law-abiding American citizens and decides to do something about it. I repeat. Thank you Mr. Snowden.