Steven Greffenius · @sgreffenius
11th Jun 2013 from TwitLonger
Quotations on Edward Snowden from this article in Reason (http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/11/the-demonization-machine-cranks-up-again):
Now you've got this 29-year-old high school-dropout whistleblower making foreign policy for our country, our security policy... We've made treason cool. Betraying your country is kind of a fashion statement. He wants to be the national security Kim Kardashian. He cites Bradley Manning as a hero.
I mean, we need to get very, very serious about treason. And, oh by the way, for treason — as in the case of Bradley Manning or Edward Snowden — you bring back the death penalty. ~ Ralph Peters
The question, of course, is whether the government can function when all of its employees (and contractors) can take it upon themselves to sabotage the programs they don't like. That's what Snowden has done. ~ Jeffrey Toobin
That's the point of civil disobedience, isn't it: to keep the government from functioning as it would like.
Let me add: I have no problem with Snowden going to Hong Kong. He faced torture and, if Peters had his way, death if he stayed in the United States. Many people who resist tyranny have chosen exile, and Snowden is free to choose the same.