Thursday, January 2, 2014

What About Snowden?

Hero or traitor?  In the end, I hope history will record him as a hero.

Read the "Comments" section after a news article on Edward Snowden.  He tends to get a really bad rap, especially from those who identify themselves as veterans - not a lot of love coming to Snowden from that quarter.

But, I would urge my fellow veterans: before you condemn Snowden as a traitor, read the Constitution and do a little research that sheds some light on why we have a Bill of Rights.  Do you understand some of the things that had been happening in Europe that compelled the enumeration of those rights?  Do you understand the very real abuses that our founders were seeking to avoid in this new country?  The Bill of Rights is more than just a list of "good ideas."  It was included in our Constitution as a response, a reaction, to recent history.

As a veteran, what good is my oath to protect the Constitution if we don't have one to protect?  If our government has made it a habit to act outside the limits of the Constitution, and does so with impunity, then we don't really have one, do we?  Our Constitution exists to keep the government of a free nation in check.  If it takes someone like Snowden to expose the wrongdoings of the government, if it takes someone violating their oath of secrecy to help preserve (or restore) the integrity of our Constitution, then that's what it takes.

It isn't Snowden who should be in the hot seat - it's our government.