I was just reading this provocative diary entry and musing ...
If the security of our country rests on secrets, we've got a problem.
A big one.
If we're relying on a vast and vaguely acknowledged secret bureaucracy to guard our country's security, with secret courts, secret laws, secret surveillance and secret data, we're in big trouble.
My America is strong and safe and free because of the principles outlined in our Constitution.
My America is strong and safe and free because of our institutions and traditions, specifically those of open government and a free press.
Not because tens or hundreds of thousands of people are secretly keeping tabs on my phone calls, my e-mails and my web browsing habits.
Not because the government is spying on my speech and activities and reporting it through a long chain of espionage, all the way down from the CIA to the FBI to the local and now more militarized police.
If Ed Snowden has enough information to harm the U.S., we're doing something wrong.
Information about what my government is doing in my name should be something I'm proud of, not something that has to be kept from the public eye because it's so powerful, damaging or shameful.
We're on the wrong track here.
The wrong track indeed.