I totally agree with Al Gore's assessment of the Snowden/NSA issue. [View all]

[Uncle Joe]

From Purveyor's O.P. in the Latest Breaking News Forum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=822631

Former Vice President Al Gore said that while NSA leaker Edward Snowden broke the law, his transgressions revealed far worse violations of the U.S. constitution than any he committed.

“He clearly violated the law,” Gore said Tuesday at Tennessee’s Southland Technology + Southern Culture Conference when asked whether Snowden was a traitor or a hero. “But what he revealed in the course of violating important laws included violations of the United States Constitution that were way more serious than the crimes that he committed, and so in the course of violating important laws, he also provided an important service.”

Gore, whose comments were reported by the tech site PandoDaily that was a co-sponsor of the conference, said he would “push more away from the traitor side.” His views sharply differ from those of Secretary of State John Kerry, who called Snowden a “coward” and a “traitor” in late May in an interview with MSNBC.

The former vice president didn’t hold back about his feelings on the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices. “This is a threat to democracy, to the heart of democracy,” Gore said, fearing that people would self-censor under the threat of surveillance.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/al-gore-edward-snowden-important-service-107652.html?hp=r2

I believe a total surveillance state is as cancer to democracy, and if you combine that with the Citizens United decision, a militarized police force, for profit prisons and a wall between the U.S. and Mexico this will surely take us down a dark path to an oligarch, corporate supremacist, authoritarian form of government.

I also believe the Internet to which Al Gore championed is under threat precisely because it does greatly magnify the average American's voice, this comes via the NSA's overreaching and the attacks against Net Neutrality.

Having said all that, I haven't seen any evidence as of yet that D.U. outside of maybe an isolated poster that anyone has tried to throw Al Gore under the bus, regarding his stance on the Snowden/NSA issue published today.

Considering that this is an election year and November is getting closer, I believe we should redouble our efforts to put personality aside and focus on the issues pro and con, we need to stay united, if we're going to take the House and increase our Senate lead before Thanksgiving.

Peace to you all.