This morning as I sipped my coffee, I thought to myself about all the recent scandals that have to come to light. I have found the debate over Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden to be remarkable. There are American citizens who see them as threats to the country. Senator Dianne Feinstein has called Snowden “a traitor” and has defended the wire tapping of the Obama Administration.
Keeping you safe from Terrorists since 2001 (politicalgraffiti)
We are all to blame for the recent scandals. We have traded citizen responsibility for a sense of security. Power of our government has been wrested from our hands by the oligarchs. Free speech is limited. We are outraged, but we should be disappointed in ourselves. I, as of yesterday, could not name the members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. I neither knew nor cared about the name of my Representative. I want to ask you a question: do you? Can you tell me who supported the FAA or Patriot Act?
The American public has been lacking responsibility: we have allowed powerful groups to gain control of the legislative, executive and judicial branches. These groups believe they know what is best for you. That is why they watch you. They believe you are a number- a crass, unintelligent group; so, they have more than happily taken your political power away from you.
True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else. –Clarence Darrow (wikipedia.org)
I want to remind my fellow citizens that love of country and love of government are not the same. A Patriot does not support necessarily support his government. I agree with Felipe Coronel when he says, “I love the place I live, but I hate the people in charge.” Attacks by individuals on the current government should not be seen as attacks against the country, but only as attacks on corrupt institutions. America, take control of your destiny. Do not condemn the Mannings and Snowdens among you. Rather, hail them as patriots; willing to give up their personal freedom and fortunes so that we may have liberty and truth. They fight for you, do not allow their sacrifice to be in vain.
Life in The Empire 
First and foremost Snowden is a whistle-blower, but some consider him a traitor. He brought to light one of possibly many of the NSA’s surveillance tactics. Moreover, I feel he exposed something which he considered unethical in the world of counterintelligence; intelligence gained by spying on American citizens who mistakenly had the conception that they have a right to privacy. I cannot help but compare him to the same whistle-blowers of those avaricious companies such as Enron. That same whistle-blower that exposed the deceptive practices behind the whole Enron scandal paved the way for others in similar fashion to do the same thing. They are rewarded for their “snitching.” Not only did they expose the fraud and unethical practices in their own companies but they also helped the federal government, specifically the IRS, prosecute those responsible. When the world found out Snowden was responsible for leaking this information, he did the smartest thing he could do which was flee. Look at the wiki leaks people they are all either dead or in jail. Yes I think he is a whistle-blower not a hero, unlike the Enron whistleblower he knows that there is no SEC or IRS to close down shop. He fled because he knows there is no such thing as being a whistle-blower on the government.
For me and many other people Snowden as Bradley Manning are hero. Manning was deeply moved by atrocities in the Iraq/Afghanistan political war and as a sensitive human being he was feeling obliged to reveal it publicly. I was very sad after seeing a TV reportage involving poor working and unemployed guys who were afraid to answer a simple reporter’s question: Is Mr. Manning in your opinion a hero, or traitor? Instead of answering they were saying: “no comment” like our tricky politicians when supposed to tell something from their hearts. It means that now people in North America are similarly scared to express their political opinions as in Cuba or North Korea.