Edward Snowden - An American Citizen

In My Opinion...

The level of vitriol aimed at Edward Snowden has been very high. It's curious as to why, when in reality, he was serving the public by revealing to us the depth of intrusion into our private lives.  And, as frightening as it is to find out that our own government is collecting every bit of information on every one of its citizens, somehow that doesn't seem to horrify people as much as the 'treasonous' act they believe Snowden committed by revealing this. The name-calling from both political sides has been over the top - from traitor, to high school dropout, to narcissist, to clown, and the list goes on. He simply calls himself an American citizen.

This American citizen has sacrificed a comfortable life, living with his girlfriend in Hawaii, making a lucrative salary and enjoying all the benefits that go with that. He acknowledges that he'll probably never go home again, may never see his family again, and, may in fact, be tortured or killed when found. This is not the sign of a clown, but a serious person, who sincerely believes his country is slipping away.  "The greatest fear that I have, regarding the outcome for America, of these disclosures, is that nothing will change. People will see in the media all of these disclosures, they'll know the lengths the government is going to grant themselves powers unilaterally to create greater control over American society and global society..."

“I can’t in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, Internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building,” he said.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/09/nsa-leaker-comes-forward-i-know-i-have-done-nothing-wrong/

In a scathing editorial in thedailybeast.com, Kirsten Powers writes, "Apparently we are supposed to “respect institutions” so much that we never feel entitled to information about how they operate, even when it involves our private communications. Only because of Snowden do we know that our government is storing records of our phone data that can be mined for God only knows how long."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/14/the-sickening-snowden-backlash.html

So, why is Edward Snowden getting trashed? Maybe it's to protect this President (although the easy litmus test for this would be to ask, what if George Bush were President?). Or, maybe because they truly believe he has compromised national security.  Whatever the reason, one has to wonder why he became the object of discussion rather than the stunning information of his disclosure.