Obama To World Re Edward Snowden: We Kill The Messengers

I honestly can’t get over the audacity the US Government has to charge someone with espionage for revealing facts about histories’ largest, most sophisticated, and most abhorrent spy program. It always seemed strange to me that society should find it necessary to even come up with a platitude telling people not the kill messengers. I couldn’t possibly imagine any scrap of news so wretched that would inspire such a sick rage against the poor devil who delivered it. Sadly, unlike me and what I would imagine are the vast majority of people, President Obama is fond of viciously punishing those who deliver news about crimes.

Were Edward Snowden to be a child on a playground telling his teacher about an act of bullying he witnessed, the school would undoubtedly investigate and punish the bully, and most likely praise the informant for his courage and honesty. In fact, in literally every other scenario following this form, criminal charges would be pressed against the person who actually committed a crime, and not against the person unfortunate enough to witness it. Novel thought, eh?

Surely if Edward Snowden is to be tried for espionage, then the NSA and all those who facilitated their abhorrent spying on American citizens should be tried with him. While I do not believe Edward Snowden has done anything wrong in going public with his knowledge of the PRISM spy program, should anyone believe he should be charged with espionage, for the sake of logical consistency, he also has to charge the NSA with the same crime. If it is a crime to spy on a spy agency, surely it is a crime for a spy agency to steal the private information of millions of Americans.

This being said, for whatever it’s worth, I charge the NSA with espionage. To any of those chuckling at the futility of my bold declaration, perhaps you can take solace in the understanding that as a political writer, one of my most practiced hobbies is smashing my head against a wall.

Image: Pollice Verso; by Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824–1904); current location: Phoenix Art Museum; public domain

Patrick Kane is a political activist based out of Boulder Colorado. He is currently employed by several of Colorado’s preeminent think tanks and has worked in the liberty movement since he was fourteen. An aspiring writer, Patrick currently writes for Girls Just Want To Have Guns and Complete Colorado Page Two. Follow the author Patrick Kane at facebook.com/heroinpuppies