The following poll was sent out to registered Libertarian Party members and I thought it would be interesting for others to know what the Libertarian responses were to following question: How should government officials react to revelations made by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden? Abolish the NSA. 2% (78 votes) [Plus "All of the above - except for awarding Snowden the medal."17% (873 votes] [Plus "All of the above - including awarding Snowden the medal. He's a patriot and a hero."44% (2268 votes)] Total 63% (3219 votes) Award Edward Snowden the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 1% (68 votes) [Plus "All of the above - including awarding Snowden the medal. He's a patriot and a hero."44% (2268 votes)] Total 45% (2336 votes) Repeal the Patriot Act, NDAA, FISA and every other law that violates Americans' Fourth Amendment rights. 13% (653 votes) [Plus "All of the above - except for awarding Snowden the medal."17% (873 votes] [Plus "All of the above - including awarding Snowden the medal. He's a patriot and a hero."44% (2268 votes)] Total 74% (3794 votes) Consolidate the federal government's 18 spy agencies into one much smaller agency fully accountable to the American people. 3% (180 votes) [Plus "All of the above - except for awarding Snowden the medal."17% (873 votes] [Plus "All of the above - including awarding Snowden the medal. He's a patriot and a hero."44% (2268 votes)] Total 64% (3321 votes) End U.S. foreign interventions in the Middle East and throughout the world to reduce the threat of terrorism. 2% (99 votes) [Plus "All of the above - except for awarding Snowden the medal."17% (873 votes] [Plus "All of the above - including awarding Snowden the medal. He's a patriot and a hero."44% (2268 votes)] Total 63% (3240 votes) Cut military spending by at least 60%. 0% (11 votes) [Plus "All of the above - except for awarding Snowden the medal."17% (873 votes] [Plus "All of the above - including awarding Snowden the medal. He's a patriot and a hero."44% (2268 votes)] Total 61% (3141 votes) Cut taxes and/or reduce government debt so freed-up money cannot be spent on another dangerous or unconstitutional program. 1% (56 votes) [Plus "All of the above - except for awarding Snowden the medal."17% (873 votes] [Plus "All of the above - including awarding Snowden the medal. He's a patriot and a hero."44% (2268 votes)] Total 62% (3197 votes) All of the above - except for awarding Snowden the medal. Total 17% (873 votes) All of the above - including awarding Snowden the medal. He's a patriot and a hero. Total 44% (2268 votes) A different combination of the above. Total 15% (791 votes) None of the above. Total 2% (104 votes) Total votes: 5181 https://www.lp.org/poll/how-should-...ions-made-by-nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden As one of those that responded to the poll I will reveal that my response was "All of the above - except for awarding Snowden the medal." I didn't find anything specifically heroic about Snowden's actions although it is sad that the US government wants to prosecute him for "leaking" information that should never have been secret in the first place. Our knowledge of this information hasn't, as some people claim, done anything to "help the terrorists" nor has this spying on Americans really done anything to identify terrorists. Simply mining and gathering information on Americans serves no purpose of law enforcement and the only thing that Snowden's disclosure did was to inform the American People of how badly our Constitutional Rights are being violated by the US government. Snowden will probably be caught and eventually convicted for nothing more than embarrassing our President and government.
Assuming all that was disclosed was what he said publicly, I don't see the crime. He was very broad and didn't put any person in direct danger. He limited it to talking about domestic spying. I don't see how it is treason or espionage, unless I missed something.
The actual domestic spying is so vague as to be worthless as well. That's why there's no excuse for it. We also know that the FISA courts aren't issuing warrants for the "searches" after the fact because each and every individual case of tracking would have to be justified. It would have taken literally millions of search warrants issued after the fact specifying what was being looked for. This Obama crap that these warrantless wiretaps are under court supervision is absolutel BS and we all know it. We're posting here right now and the NSA is tracking that. What grounds are there for it to support the warrant to track our individual posts? Is Political Forum engaged in criminal activities of any kind? Is there any evidence that a crime is being planned or has been committed? Where is the evidence or sworn testimony justifying a warrant for the NSA to be tracking posts on Political Forum? This is interesting as well because in discussions with other Libertarians we wholeheartedly support the ACLU lawsuits to stop this warrantless wiretapping of information.
