@westside-steve said:

Allegiance to one's country isn't inherently bad, but blind allegiance is. Snowden showed that the US government is blatantly disregarding the fourth amendment of the US Constitution, the supposed law of the land, and spying on its own citizens. So yes, he is protecting your freedoms by seeking asylum with our competitors.

If he had been a hero whistleblower, he would have gotten the information out without

hurting our national security. It isn't that he only wanted the NSA truth to come out.

He has 4 freakin laptops with a thumb drive of important information. It is believed that he may

very well have a list of all undercover spies overseas, the whole deal. There is nothing

to keep Russia from confiscating those laptops and thumb drive and getting all that information.

Big, gigantic devastating traitor deal right there. He could even easily sell it for a house and a yearly income

in a nice part of Moscow or Ecuador. He isn't a hero. He could have been.

@vaportrail said:

I don't expect everyone to share my views. That said, what would you call someone who recognizes that the government is stepping way over its bounds and lets the general public know how badly they're doing it?

Depends on the legality of what the government was up to. Turns out maybe what he exposed wasn't illegal at all and if that's the case you'd have to press criminal charges on him. I think he was trying to do the right thing in his mind but in reality he fucked up pretty good.

@vaportrail said:

And you think that whatever he signed is more important than the Constitution. This guy's a courageous patriot.

Steve, a drug gang isn't shitting all over the constitutional rights of the people as the NSA was doing.

I think you misunderstood. Here the drug gang are the good guys. Its those damn cops who are preventing us from exercising our constitutional right to smoke dope.

That mole in the department is just fighting for our freedom, right?

The government should fear the people, not the other way around. This pretty much locks up my vote for Rand Paul as he's the only one on either side of the aisle that seems to give a shit about the Constitution.

Well I'm having a hard time figuring out how selling out the United States to red China and Russia strengthens my freedom but...

Perhaps you believe that allegiance to one's country is a bad thing.

If that's the case then there shouldn't be a law against treason in the first place.

And if personal conscience is the number one factor then the Constitution must come second.

WSS

@the-cysko-kid said:

I don't expect everyone to share my views. That said, what would you call someone who recognizes that the government is stepping way over its bounds and lets the general public know how badly they're doing it?

@diehardbrownsfan said:

And you think that whatever he signed is more important than the Constitution. This guy's a courageous patriot.

Steve, a drug gang isn't shitting all over the constitutional rights of the people as the NSA was doing.

The government should fear the people, not the other way around. This pretty much locks up my vote for Rand Paul as he's the only one on either side of the aisle that seems to give a shit about the Constitution.

@vaportrail said:

Traitor? Whistleblower? What's the difference?.

What would you think about a police officer that tips of a drug gang previous to a raid for cash?

WSS

@vaportrail said:

Yes, it does mean jack shit in the eyes of the law. Whether you agree or not means jack shit.

@mld-woody said:

Heaven forbid young folks start wanting government transparency and accountability! Uncle Sam can do no wrong, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a pinko secret socialist!

I assume you made a good point then if he's at that.

Damn young people not being as good as my generation. Inferior in every way. Stop the change!

@diehardbrownsfan said:

Like a signed agreement means jackshit. A bunch of people signed the constitution a long time ago, people don't seem to care about that anymore.

@westside-steve said:

Um, no. Not really.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

@diehardbrownsfan said:

International law has no basis in this. He violated USA law. And knowingly so. He ran and is still running. Hope they catch his ass and fry him.

And the people who leak documents from the Chinese aren't breaking Chinese law? It's against US law to break an NDA, but a guy broke that to let the world know that smoking kills people. Should those people fry too? The only difference is in where you're standing.

@vaportrail said:

International law has no basis in this. He violated USA law. And knowingly so. He ran and is still running. Hope they catch his ass and fry him.

WSS

@westside-steve said:

Sorry, Cuba was what I heard. Anyways, I think the international community needs to step up and defend this guy. I know for a fact that Fox News and Company would be celebrating this guy had he leaked information that the Chinese wanted kept under wraps.