Snowden Warns That Good Governments Can Unwittingly Corrupt Themselves

Edward Snowden’s first interview with NBC’s Brian Williams last night reminds us that governments are almost always well-meaning and wholesome when they look in the mirror.  Yet forces are put into play that are new and untested.  Outcomes can’t even be imagined.  Corruption and wrongdoing are seen only through hindsight, in retrospect.

       The rapid development of computer technology has injected powerful mechanisms for change into society.  Hardware and software advances are easy, but assessment is slow and problematic.  Abuse happens which isn’t planned.

       In the interview, Snowden defends the government as well intentioned, but ultimately naive as it manipulates forces beyond its own understanding.  Consistent with human nature, politicians and bureaucrats have faults and weaknesses.   Free societies will allow wayward tendencies to be challenged, the give-and-take seen as compromising and restorative.

     “Do you see yourself as a patriot?” Williams asked Snowden in the interview.  His unhesitating answer reveals a common sense that gets at current political realities that are little understood, with consequences not being managed:

       “I do,” he said. “I think patriot is a word that’s — that’s thrown around so much that it can devalued nowadays. But being a patriot doesn’t mean prioritizing service to government above all else. Being a patriot means knowing when to protect your country, knowing when to protect your Constitution, knowing when to protect your countrymen from the — the violations of and encroachments of adversaries.

      And those adversaries don’t have to be foreign countries. They can be bad policies. They can be officials who, you know, need a little bit more accountability. They can be mistakes of government and — and simple overreach and — and things that — that should never have been tried, or — or that went wrong.”