A few days after the Edward Snowden files were released, I got a call from a friend of mine who works in the military. He told me, “As much as I love you and my family, if I were him, I would too. I must do it, for the great of this country, our people, and our freedom.”
This may sound unpatriotic, even blasphemous.
Imagine you are Edward Snowden. Imagine that you have discovered that the government collects data from its citizens without their knowledge. And then imagine that you have a family. What would you do, if you were Edward Snowden?
Many people believe they’re willing to lay down their lives for the public good, but most people also underestimate how much they will do for their families. I’m the type of person who will choose my loved ones over virtually the rest. However, if I were Edward Snowden, I would feel obligated to leak the files. It’s too big. And I agree with my friend: it is for the public good and for the liberties of the American people. Why is that?
One of the invisible foundations of American freedom is exactly that we were brought up in a culture where the right to freedom was instilled in us from birth.
This means that almost all of our freedoms are protected by people like whistleblowers. We have people like Edward Snowden, and we have people like journalists who feel the need to expose scandals, irrespective of the cost. One of the greatest guarantees for our freedom is that we are going to all the time have political martyrs.
Our government is focused on protecting citizens from what they perceive as threats to national security. Someone needs to protect citizens from threats to their freedom from government intervention.
Transparency is one effective way to make sure that happens, and where transparency is not inherent, whistleblowers can create transparency. The damage in actions like this obviously occurs when leaks endanger public safety and American defense forces. However, despite the government’s claims that the impact was “severe,” there isn’t any evidence that it in fact harmed Americans.
[1] There has been no significant damage because of the leak. A much greater important point is Edward Snowden participating in that kind of heroism
often goes unnoticed, and virtually all the time underappreciated. There will all the time be people willing to do what Edward Snowden did there.
all the time a political martyr. It is these people who are the unsung heroes who ensured the American people
freedom.
[1] Leopold, Jason. “Pentagon Report: Intelligence Scope Infiltrated by Snowden
‘shocking’” The Guardian. The Guardian, May 22, 2014. Web. 09 October 2014.
