Edward Snowden

                Can Edward Snowden, the government contractor who leaked the classified information on NSA programs, be considered a Very Important Person in our nation?   He spilled the beans on a program that is responsible to collect data on the communications of Americans. Should we think of him as a VIP?  Snowden’s statement, “This country is worth dying for” is comparable to that of Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”  Does this statement show an attitude similar to that of our Founders?

                Bob Schieffer, Face the Nation host, certainly does not think Snowden is a VIP.  On Sunday, Schieffer called Snowden “a narcissistic young man who has decided he is smarter than the rest of us.  I don’t know what he is beyond that, but he is not a hero.”

                I do not know if we can consider Snowden a hero, but I would consider him a VIP.  He has more to lose by what he did and going public about it than he has to gain.  He was fired from his job as soon as his boss heard of his actions.  He cannot return to his country because his government wants to take him into custody.  He even believes that his government wants to kill him.  He realizes that he might spend the rest of his life in prison.  At any rate, he knows that his life as he knew it is over.  He definitely started a conversation about whether or not Americans are free.  I suppose we will have to wait for history to tell us whether Snowden is a VIP or narcissist.  Meanwhile, I think we should all pay attention to what he is doing and what affect it has on our nation and the world.