We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Edward Snowden is a true American hero and President Obama should give him a pardon because his reasons for leaking N.S.A files are understandable because the N.S.A has been breaking laws that our country is founded upon. It’s the federal government duty to ensure American citizens have protection from other countries, but does the government ensure protection to American citizen when their violating our rights. Edward Snowden didn’t violate any laws; instead he gave Americans a clear insight on what the American government was doing.
Edward Snowden leaked over a thousand
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When Obama was asked if he was going to pardon Snowden, President Obama stated, “I can 't pardon somebody who hasn 't gone before a court and presented themselves, so that 's not something that I would comment on at this point.” In Edward Snowden’s defense, why would he try to go in front of a court where he wouldn’t be given the right of freedom of speech because under that Espionage Act he can’t explain his actions? Another reason why President Obama should give him a pardon is because he’s being charged for crimes he didn’t commit with the Espionage Act. He didn’t sell the information for a large sum of money or give it to enemies, and lastly, he worked at the direction of a foreign government so why is the United States charging him. No one sees the sacrifice Snowden made because he’s giving up more than just information he’s giving up his life for the rights of American
Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States and currently the only president to have resigned from office. From 1969 to 1974 Nixon held office after a new wave of conservatism due to the College students marches that consequently turned into riots over anti-war Vietnam sentiment. Furthermore the Democratic Party split due to polarization over the involvement of the United States in the war. According to The Enduring Vision President Nixon had a tendency to be paranoid and fearful of any political opponent; including an “enemies list” where he kept all political opponents in check.
Many American citizens are willing to give up a certain degree of their rights, including their own privacy, to try and keep our country safe from terrorism. No matter the reason, however, it is never justifiable to interfere on our Constitutional rights. Former President Bush eavesdropping on innocent citizens, the USA PATRIOT Act, the Freedom Act, and Japanese internment camps are all primary examples of our constitutional rights as Americans being overlooked. “The United States trampling on the Constitutional rights of its citizens to protect the nation is never justifiable.” After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942, the United States were on their toes.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsly shouting in a theatre and causing panic.” Similarly, the Supreme Court’s ruling to arrest Schenck was wrong, and a U.S. citizen should be allowed to protest a war or draft in times of war. Specifically, the Espionage Act violated the first Amendment, Charles Schenck, whom was arrested after violating the Act, was indicting no violence, and the Act violated the 13th Amendment. First, citizens in the U.S. being allowed to protest wars or drafts specifically shines through since the Espionage Act violates the 13th Amendment.
Espionage and the Fourth Amendment are not compatible especially when people get accused for no legitimate reason. After the September 11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York. George W. Bush issued more policies to expand espionage agencies to ensure that future terrorist attacks can be prevented. Some people might argue that “preventing the loss of American lives requires some restriction of civil liberties” but other people say that “the war on terrorism is different from traditional wars and thus requires that government officials exercise special care to maintain civil liberties” (Espionage and Intelligence Gathering 114). Having civil liberties is one of the few rights that American citizens can have.
On the other hand, such actions undermined the effort of giving three sixty protections to our homeland from the foreign enemy as well as our determination of having a clean image in front of the globe around is hampered. As a duty of a true patriot he would protect the American laws and overreach only the domestic spying operations, but he failed to do that and became a traitor. Next argument is a patriot always trust in his own deeds and willing enough to face the consequences, but Snowden fled the country because he knows his documentation was stolen which make he a criminal. The righteousness of the cause and action never can be justified as having valuable information and seeking refuges is not a sign of patriotism and if his theory was genuine he would remain in the country and faced the consequences . Apparently, if any nation’s secret information is stolen and they don’t have any reason to trust the accused person and the way he reached to disclose is ambiguous
Snowden, who was a computer systems contractor, worked for the National Security Agency and revealed to the public how the American Government was spying on its own citizens and foreigners. Snowden was committed to the truth which allowed him to reason and understand the difference between what is right and what is legal. Snowden was convinced that the truth requires an individual to do the right thing and not necessarily what is legal. However, doing the right thing could sometimes require an individual to break the law.
Civil liberties are rights guaranteed to citizens in the Constitution that the government cannot interfere with, however, in the name of national security, they do. The government sometimes finds it necessary for Americans to give up some of their basic rights to keep the nation protected, but many people find this unnecessary. A law-abiding citizen’s extremely personal information should not be essential to finding terroristic threats within this society. Under no circumstances should an American citizen’s civil liberties be violated in a time of war or crisis, because those are assured rights that are most valuable to their freedom during national conflicts.
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” This is not for our safety anymore, it about gaining control of the people. Before Edward Snowden released the classified documents there was no proof that the NSA has been spying on its people, Snowden's goal was to let the people know about their governments activities not to betray the NSA but to correct their errors made. Elected representives that continually fed the nation empty promises, are the same ones that would demand Edawrd Snowden be
Powerful Governments A government is to be in charge of the economic affairs, policy, and actions of a country. There are various types of governments, with laws and restrictions that citizens are to follow. These laws and restrictions can easily be taken to extremes as portrayed in George Orwell’s 1984.
Andrew Carnegie was one of the most famous and wealthiest American industrialist during the Industrial Age. He was a robber baron who made a fortune in the steel industry and applied vertical integration to his business. Carnegie contradicted his views as a robber baron because he supported, but destroyed many unions. This made many of his views unethical.
Sidney Rosdeitcher, Senior Policy Advisor at Brennan Center, writes “The Constitution requires the President to take an oath ‘to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution’ and requires him ‘to take care that the laws be faithfully executed’.” When President Trump pardoned Arpaio he broke these oaths. The president did not defend the constitution because it was a civil right that Arpaio was convicted of breaking. Trump also did not allow the laws to be executed because the pardoned was issued for Arpaio before he was even sentenced. Chong quotes Noah Feldman, a Harvard Law School professor who advises that “the only legally binding check on law enforcement is the authority of the judiciary to say what the law is.”
[THESIS] Edward Snowden is a traitor to the United States of America and should be prosecuted. [THESIS] The main issue in the case is that Snowden leaked classified surveillance data. The surveillance data revealed that the government was spying on the public by
The main issue in the Snowden controversy is the conflicting rights of private individuals and the US government with regard to the use of telecommunications and the internet. There are ethical issues surrounding this controversy and the most applicable ethical approach for this case is “Ethics by Rights Approach”. As a background, the reason why US government had declared Edward Snowden a traitor is his involvement in the leaking of about 1.7 million confidential US documents, 15,000 Australian intelligence files and 58,000 British intelligence files from the National Security Agency (or NSA) to the public. These confidential information were acquired by the NSA through the PRISM program by collaborating with big internet companies such
Is Snowden playing the hero or the villain? Snowden is a criminal in the United States should he be pardoned or should he be criminalized for his action? It’s up to you to
The Bill of Rights gives certain liberties to the people of the United States concerning privacy. While a government backdoor in the encryption can be an effective tool for certain agencies to gain access and knowledge of criminal activity, it can also be used to obtain information without a warrant. The Fourth Amendment gives the right to privacy and that a warrant explaining what law enforcement are to seize and the place being searched. The Patriot Act of 2001 “up new pathways for law enforcement to use emerging technologies in criminal cases without the suspects afforded their Fourth Amendment rights.” (Reitmayer) There should be many worries about this considering the recent leaks about the NSA collection activities.