WATCH: Edward Snowden’s Alternative Christmas Message | Mediaite
"A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They’ll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. And that’s a problem because privacy matters; privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be."
Sure, rights apply to all people. All people have rights, given them by God (or rights don't exist... take your pick).
But who cares? The U.S. government is under no obligation to protect the rights of speech, religion, armament, self-incrimination, etc of Afghans or Iraqis or Russians.
So, again, it's only protected by our Constitution if you're a citizen.
Now, I would understand if our judicial system pretended otherwise, since it's as corrupt as the other two branches... nevertheless...
Suggesting that our Constitution protects the rights of foreigners is like suggesting that I can make a claim on your insurance policy. Your policy is a contract between you and your insurer. The Constitution is a contract between our government and citizenry.
I do not believe that Natural Rights are a euphemism for individual rights. Natural Rights has a specific philosophical basis in Locke and the Declaration of Independence. Individual rights does not have this foundation.
Rights do not only apply to a citizen that is neither logical nor historically correct under the Constitution. If they are Natural Rights then they exist regardless of whether a government enforces them. This is important, because we have to have a standard by which to judge the actions of our (any) government. It is also important, because as Locke and Jefferson made it clear when the government fails to protect these rights, the people have the right to overthrow the government - by force if necessary. The social contract theory does not limit the contract to citizens. There is not logical or historical basis for this. Based on your idea then Rights would not apply to a baby, since it could not have consented to the contract. Natural Rights transcend citizenship - they exist because you are a person.
I still stand by my initial proclamation that Snowden is a hero.
I agree with you that Snowden is a hero but it's not a popular opinion to have as both sides denounce him. I think the right do so from a national security standpoint, however I believe many miss that the point of a strong defense is to protect, defend and uphold the Constitution. There is an excellent Rolling Stone piece on Snowden that may be of interest to you if you haven't seen it already:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/new...
It's a really long article but well worth the time.
Here you have someone who actually saw something that he believed was of detriment to our country and he risked his life to inform us. In my opinion this falls squarely into the category of a hero. What if he would have never taken these steps? How long and how far would this have gone before anyone knew of these actions?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NHytm-gU...
He could have gone to Fox News, the Washington Times, the New York Post, The Oklahoman, Michelle Malkin, James O'Keefe.
He could have gone to our own people, not the enemy.
Perhaps a tough choice, but logical.
I think what he did was necessary to expose to the world how corrupted and power-hungry the US government has become.
And the issue is not "to expose to the world" - the issue is to expose it to American citizens.
Do I consider Obama's offenses to be greater than Snowden's? Orders of magnitude greater and wide-ranging. There is also the small issue of intent, in which I agree with you whole-heartedly. Obama should be impeached, but that won't happen because there is no way a Democratic Senate will vote to convict. :(
As to whom the lies get exposed to, in the end everyone is going to know anyway. Americans are simply the ones who need to know MOST.
The activities themselves are designed with the intent to control and subvert power, which is evil. Clear enough?
I apologize in advance to the women and children on this blogsite, but...
F* THE WORLD.
They don't need to know how corrupt our government is or isn't. It's none of their affair. They're not fit to deal with it. We will. Eventually.
http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entrepren...
Thought this might add credibility to the story. The accompanying article seems interesting, especially as it appears that our domestic media seems more critical of him when compared to the international press.