The Right to know

When Edward Snowden made his disclosures regarding the NSA's actions against their own citizens and against our allies abroad, Americans responded with a less than adequate level of disgust. Senators, attempting to pander to their constituents called him a traitor and used words like "treason" and "terrorist". Americans still did not respond. The question, however, remains one of immense importance regardless of the response of the citizenry. Do we have the right to know what the government is doing? In matters like the Manhattan Project it was an easy question to answer. During that time citizens knowing what the government was doing could have put the whole world at risk. This time, however, is much different. We are not talking about a weapon or even the plans of a war, we are talking about domestic surveillance of innocent people with the remote chance a threat might be found. As a free society, we have the right and the duty to know that our government is conducting these kinds of activities. We have the right to know when our government is putting us at risk by listening to our allies covertly. They are, after all, our allies and we should do everything we can to make sure that alliance is not jeopardized by some power hungry bureaucracy. Our senators responding by calling him names and attempting to extradite him so vigorously should raise the alarm that Snowden's disclosures were only the tip of the iceberg. Indeed I wonder if this post will not subject me to surveillance by the government I have put my faith in to protect me. The right of the people to know the abuses of power of their government is an absolute. The right to privacy is what separates us from the people who seek to destroy us. It does not mean we are doing anything wrong (I use the restroom in private and I am not doing anything wrong, it is simply something I have the right to choose not to share with my government) it simply means we are exercising a fundamental right that all men and women should have. Snowden is not a traitor or terrorist, he is a refugee from a government that is rapidly heading towards a Big Brother kind of society. The reaction of the citizenry is not just disappointing, but disgusting. We can raise troops of protesters for a murder in Florida, but we can't even raise a finger to petition our own government to stop their heinous crimes against their own citizens. Both issues are important, and we must, to continue to live free, react equally as vigorously to the revelations of Mr. Snowden as we did to the acquittal of Mr. Zimmerman. What do you think about Edward Snowden?
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