Edward
Snowden and Our Civil Liberties
Published Daily
Review
January 19, 2014
Edward Snowden
pilfered hundreds of government secrets, while he was employed with
the NSA. There is no doubt
that Snowden is a thief, and a whistle blower, but is he a traitor
or a patriot? I
believe that Snowden’s loyalty, and his allegiance was to protect
and uphold the Constitution, and to protect the liberties of the
citizens of the United States. All
the corruption, the trampling on the Constitution, and the Civil
Liberties of the citizens of this great country by the NSA needed to
be exposed. For a long
time, I have believed we have been living in a society in which the
government has been spying on all Americans.
When he came forth with his revelations of what the NSA was
doing, he only confirmed my suspicions.
It all started with the Patriot Act, shortly after the 9/11
attacks in New York. Since
then the Obama administration has used an extreme interpretation of
the law for excessive domestic surveillance.
Through a secret court order, the NSA has collected the
communication data on millions of Americans.
Verizon, AT&T, Bell South, and other communication companies
have been forced to turn the data over to the NSA. The data is
collected on all our phone calls and emails we send. The data
consist of the originating and termination numbers, the length of
the call, when the calls were made, the telephone calling card
numbers, trunk identifiers, and any other identifying information.
Who I call, or who I write to via email is nobody’s business
but mine. Do you want a
government snoop (the NSA) prying into your private or personal
business every time you make a phone call or send an email?
There is little doubt in my mind; this is a gross violation
of our Constitutional rights and our liberties. Does not the Fourth
Amendment of the Constitution protect us against unreasonable
searches and seizure and our rights to privacy anymore?
Do you really believe that all this spying on Americans is
done to protect us against terrorism?
Personally; I believe a lot of this talk about terrorism is a
method of intimidation, a justification to spy on the citizens of
this country. Intimidation
with terrorism makes people more eager and willing to give up some
of their Constitutional rights, and their liberties in exchange for
a little bit of security from terrorism.
How many terrorists have they caught in the last ten years by
collecting all this mega-data on millions of Americans?
Outside of 9/11, more people in America are killed by
lightning every year than by terrorists.
The Constitution
was drafted almost two hundred and fifty years ago.
Since then, thousands of men and women have laid down their
lives to protect the Constitution and our Civil Liberties.
Are you willing to give up some of your rights to a lawless
government for a little bit of security from terrorism, when our
liberties came at such a high cost and were paid for in blood?
When getting ready to sign the Declaration of Independence.
John Hancock made the statement “We all must be unanimous on this;
there must be no pulling in difference ways; we must all hang
together on this.”
Benjamin Franklin replied with a witty remark: “Yes, we must all
hang together, or we will be pretty sure to hang separately.”
The signers of the Declaration of Independence knew what they
were doing was wrong, yet they also felt what they were doing was
right. The right outweighed the wrong, which is why we have this
great country today.
They knew they were traitors of the king.
In reality they were both
traitors and patriots. To those loyal to the king and British rule
they were traitors. To
the colonists, who were not loyal to the king, and wanted to form a
new nation, considered the signers of the Declaration of
Independence to be patriots.
So it is with Edward Snowden, to some he is a traitor, and to other he is a patriot. It all depends on where your personal loyalties lay. If your loyalties lie with our great omniscient, President Obama, who thinks he is our king, and has little respect for the constitution, and your liberties, you probably consider Snowden to be a traitor. To those who believe the preservation of the Constitution and our liberties are the foundation for a free democratic society, Edward Snowden is a patriot. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who are willing give up their liberties to purchase a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Craig H Pierce
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