Sunday, July 07, 2013

America: From beacon of democracy to world’s biggest bully


The Obama administration and members of Congress continue to harp at countries who might harbor Edward Snowden with vague “oooh, you’re-really-gonna-get-it” threats. As an American citizen, I find the actions of my government humiliating and degrading because I know that all of this bluster is for one purpose and one purpose only; to frighten any other potential leakers into silence.

This is, after all, how a bully works. He rules by threats and intimidation. “If you tell the teacher what I did, I’m gonna kick your ass after school.” Sound familiar? What is the U.S. going to do to a dirt poor country like Bolivia if it takes in Snowden? Hurt its economy even further? In one breath Obama minimizes Snowden by calling him a, “29-year old hacker,” but in the next breath he acts as if the young man is Hitler’s clone.

Have some dignity, Obama. You got caught with your taps down. From the government’s standpoint, what’s the huge issue here? There isn’t even a great groundswell of public indignation over the revelations, which is truly unfortunate. Just do what you’ve always done and throw out those buzzwords — al Qaeda, terrorism, threats to our security, blah, blah, blah — and it will all settle down in no time.

But leave Bolivia alone. Okay?

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