What the "Snowden is a traitor" crowd don't get

[brooklynite]

2. What the "Snowden is a hero" crowd don't get

It is true that there hasn't been a "truth or reconcillation" effort...because by and large, the people aren't interested in one. This is NOT a situation where "above the law" politicians are seperated from an oppressed populace; it's a situation where most people perceive the world as a dangerous place (whether deservedly or not), and their ELECTED officials respond, as much for CYA as anything else, by implementing and maintaing security and intelligence-gathering policies. The Patriot Act was passed by an elected Congress; it has been in force for 10 years during which the Republicans and Democrats have changed control, and no Party, no liberal caucus, and no Party base has pushed to significantly change the Law, much less repeal it.

I'm not personally opposed to reforming the rules under which the NSA acts, but neither am I naive enough to espouse (as some DU'ers have) that we should have no intelligence-gathering whatsoever. And neither are most voters, including MOST DEMOCRATS. Panamanian officials just stopped a North Korean ship attempting to smuggle missle parts; do you suppose somebody might have gathered some foreign intelligence that led to the seizure?

Edward Snowden violated his security clearance. His release of information may have put our legitimate intelligence-gathering efforts at rish; it may not have. But it wasn't his decision to make, and he deserves to face charges for his conduct.