Citizenfour took home an Academy Award for the best documentary film. The film is about the leaking of sensitive information by renowned NSA worker Edward Snowden. Rotten Tomatoes describes it as, "Part real-life thriller, part sobering examination of 21st century civil liberties." Now, the director and Edward Snowden himself are responding to questions on Reddit's famous AMA (ask me anything) forum.
Mr. Snowden responds to questions concerning his patriotism, morality, and criminality. Most of the questions are pretty basic, but parts of Mr. Snowden's detailed responses are noteworthy. Regardless whether you deem him a traitor or not, he at least reminds people about the dangers of big government left unchecked.
When asked if he would do anything differently, he says he would definitely do it all again, but simply choose to do it sooner before those who had the ability to abuse their powers and positions were so entrenched.
"Once you grant the government some new power or authority, it becomes exponentially more difficult to roll it back. Regardless of how little value a program or power has been shown to have, once it's a sunk cost, once dollars and reputations have been invested in it, it's hard to peel that back. Don't let it happen in your country." - Snowden
He was asked how the issue of government surveillance could be a bigger issue than just a campaign promise by those running and said organizing and activism are important. He brought up that America was founded by "breaking the law" (British Law) as well as in response to civil rights abuses. He basically asks, what would happen to people trying to change the status quo (i.e., corrupt government) if the government could simply conduct surveillance on, round up and imprison anyone it wants.
"Ultimately, if people lose their willingness to recognize that there are times in our history when legality becomes distinct from morality, we aren't just ceding control of our rights to government, but our agency in determining our futures.
. . . if government insists on behaving poorly and with a callous disregard for the citizen -- we can find ways to reduce or remove their powers on a new -- and permanent -- basis.
Our rights are not granted by governments. They are inherent to our nature. But it's entirely the opposite for governments: their privileges are precisely equal to only those which we suffer them to enjoy."
Surveillance seems to be an area where the right and left can mostly agree, and those on the right can use it as a teaching moment to those on the left who favor more government control.
Here is one more quote from the forum that seems to be a critique of big/corrupt government, arguing that government, as well as the citizenry, must be held accountable:
"One of the biggest problems in governance today is the difficulty faced by citizens looking to hold officials to account when they cross the line. We can develop new tools and traditions to protect our rights, and we can do our best to elect new and better representatives, but if we cannot enforce consequences on powerful officials for abusive behavior, we end up in a system where the incentives reward bad behavior post-election."