Should Snowden And Assange Pardon The US Government?

[Zenaan Harkness]

   Should Snowden And Assange Pardon The US Government?
   Jacob Hornberger via The Future of Freedom Foundation
   https://www.fff.org/2020/08/19/should-snowden-and-assange-pardon-the-u-s-government/
   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/should-snowden-and-assange-pardon-us-government

      President Trump is saying that he might issue a pardon to Edward Snowden. For some reason, he hasn’t said the same thing about Julian Assange.

      But a pardon suggests that the person being pardoned has done something wrong.

      Neither Snowden and Assange has done anything wrong - at least not in a moral sense. It is the U.S. government - and specifically the national-security state branch of the federal government - that has engaged in terrible wrongdoing - wrongdoing that Snowden and Assange revealed to the American people and the people of the world.

      Therefore, the real question is: Should Snowden and Assange pardon the U.S. for having destroyed a large part of their lives and liberty?

      Oh, sure, the two of them technically violated the federal government’s national-security laws, rules, and regulations against revealing the dark-side, sordid policies and practices of the national-security establishment. Big deal. Those laws, rules, and regulations are illegitimate, at least in a moral sense. Why should the dark-side, sordid policies and practices of a government be immune from disclosure?

      ...