Pirate's Cove

So says The Politico

Edward Snowden’s nightmare may be coming true.

Not exile; not the danger of imprisonment or prosecution; and not his newfound association with dictators, lawyers and impresarios.

Snowden’s worst fear, by his own account, was that “nothing will change.”

“People will see in the media all these disclosures, they’ll know the lengths the government is going to grant themselves powers, unilaterally, to create greater control over American society and global society,” he told The Guardian last month after he’d asked it to identify him as its source. “But they won’t be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things, to force their representatives to actually take a stand in their interests.”

Since Snowden’s revelations, what has happened? There was an initial furor, but this turned almost immediately to a focus from the media and elected politicians in demonizing Snowden. I’m not going to condone what he did, except in terms of that he did inform the American people just how badly the government was spying on them. Snowden is still a bad person. His leaks go well beyond being a whistleblower. But the focus became Snowden, not what he let us know about. His motives. Then his travels. What Russia and other countries would possibly do.

Then other stuff came along. Amnesty. Egypt. Etc. And we’ve moved, mostly, from the notion that the government spies on us. I suspect that this is partly due to the notion that we do not trust the federal government to be restrained. Consider all the things the TSA was doing to flyers. Lots and lots of outcry. Has anything really changed? No.

Here’s Eugene Robinson, who I disagree with at least 98% of the time

I don’t believe government officials when they say the National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance programs do not invade our privacy. The record suggests that you shouldn’t believe them, either. (snip to the end)

The biggest lie of all? That the American people don’t even deserve to be told what their laws mean, much less how those laws are being used.

While Eugene has a few partisan and silly moments (mentioning Rand Paul and tin foil hats in 2nd paragraph, in next to last he says government acts in good faith…I doubt he would say the same if Bush was in office, or there was a President McCain or Romney), it is a good op-ed, worth the read.