Open Letter To Mr. Snowden

This is the scariest thing I've ever written on this blog. This is the scariest thing I've ever had to admit. I want to write a blog post about Edward Snowden, and how I believe he's a true patriot. I want to write long, expansive paragraphs about the history of the internet, and how it was once the true bastion of information and liberty, and the government has taken it all away from us in light of terrorist attacks which they seemingly can't pin down, and can't fight properly. I want to write about how similar our phones, our computers, even our televisions now are to "loyalist spies" in pre revolution times, sitting there posing as friends at your dinner table, waiting to report any hint of rebellion to the crown, and to see you hang. I am modified to type this, and yet I feel as a true American, somebody needs to start. More specifically, somebody needs to follow in Mr. Snowden's footsteps, lest all of his sacrifice, his hard work, his thoughtfulness to the America that we all still believe in, is washed away by the sea of bureaucracy that he is so bravely fighting, along with the help of many others.



To those of you who have been separated from your loved ones, who have made the ultimate sacrifice of giving up your sense of self, and who have worked tirelessly to make this case against our own government for broad based spying: I salute you. Your patriotism will go down in history as one of the bravest acts of our time.



I want to badly to be a part of that, too. To help. And I think this is the only way that I can. For me, the stakes are too high. My wife and child need me. I need them. But with the same breath I realize that if we all think in that same manner "No, I'll just let them spy on me and say nothing about it, I'll let them hinder my free speech because I don’t want to be arrested" then they have won. They are winning. America was not built on a system of politically correct statements made to the right people. It was made on the basis of bold statements made to many people, stating how you felt about the state of things, and how important they are to you. As a true, and humble lover of the internet, and the freedom of speech that it gives and represents, I am sickened by the fact that The United States Of America, the country that holds itself up proudly as the one true shining light of freedom in a sea of darkness, is eroding those freedoms from behind the scenes in such a way that I have now just realized that I am afraid to talk about certain topics to my family in the comfort of my own home. I am afraid to talk about MY feelings about the government. I'm afraid to talk about my feeling on hot button issues. I'm sometimes afraid to mention where I'm going out loud in my own home. Some may say that its a deep level of paranoia, but I disagree. Having seen the way that cloud computing works, and its ability to simply "hold onto" every key point of data that you create throughout your day :making purchases, driving places, making phone calls, sending texts, speaking, and on and on, I know that if the government decides that you're a "terrorist", its lights out. They pull the data, they indict you, and you have no rights. Not only do you have no rights, but even if you DID, how can you possibly defend against that deluge of information that they pulled on you RETROACTIVELY?



Glenn Beck (love him or hate him) in light of the Snowden leaks said it best (preface: he's a crackpot, and goes back on his word all the time, we need a better masthead for true conservatism)



"I want you to let me record everything you do for one month: all of your phone calls, all of your driving and movement locations, all of your speech in proximity of a microphone, all emails, web searches, browser history, and anything else we can collect digitally. At the end of that month I will charge you with a crime you did not commit. Do you think you could win that court case?"



its a truly chilling statement.  There is no lawyer on earth that could save you from a court where such data collection is legal and admissible in court. None.



So I suppose what I'm trying to say here is Thank You Mr. Snowden. You are  in many ways a modern day patriot, where such people seem to have fallen into lockstep with the sea of others who believe that "if they have nothing to hide, then why should I be worried?" that is not the point, because by the time you are worried, your free speech will be gone. by the time you're worried, you will be instantly flagged for saying you dislike the president at your own kitchen table. By the time you're worried, you'll be marked as a terrorist for donating to a minority party. By the time you're worried, the constitution will be a bare husk of its former self, crushed under Patriot Acts, and NDAAs from 50 years hence, and a million other laws put out in a time of great fear for "national security"



How can we possibly fight such a behemoth? how can we stand up to the might of the US government? The fact that most of you read that sentence and thought it was a legitimate question is the first problem. We are a representative republic, and right now, we are not being represented. Our representatives in congress and the house are working for the highest bidder, pushing through laws that best suit their needs. The Executive branch is working overtime behind the scenes to collect and collate more data than has even been attempted in the history of mankind, with no oversight, no protocols, and no safeguards.  The time has come to take it back and the way is simple. We need to care about our government again.



I grew up in a family where our patriotism was close in step to our faith. The freedom that America gave us was something sacred to be cherished and held dearly, and although Christianity still came before it, America was a close second. Reverence for the flag was taught to me at a young age, and respect for our armed forces was as well. I still have great respect for all of these institutions, may they stay true to their promise to uphold the constitution.



So how to I care about my government? I vote. I learn about the different candidates. No not through the news. through VOTING RECORD.  voting record is all. that. fucking. matters. anyone who tells you anything else is a joker. If you want proof of this, look at Ron Paul's Voting Record. Libertarian no matter what. That's a true statesman. Look at his son's. Neocon. Abortion laws? Keeping Christ in government? Seriously Rand? Libertarian? Don't lie dude.



I could go on and on, but a simple Wikipedia search of your own congressman, your own senators, and any other political person you would like will give you the voting records. Read them, understand the laws they voted on. Ask your friends what they think. Make it a part of your life. Get to know your government, because right now it is pervasive into every last aspect of your life. If you want to take your government back, and make it into what you want, and thereby make America into what you want it to be, you need to care. You need to.



My 20 minutes is up. I'll write more on this if people are interested. but I want you to take away this. The government has gotten out of control and its nobody's fault but mine, yours, and everyone else's. This is our country. It always will be. We just need to make it into the country that we want it to be again, and do it the right way, the way the founding fathers intended.