Ok, maybe saying he hearts him is a little strong, but Rand Paul and Edward Snowden have something in common. They both feel that the NSA’s surveillance programs are overreaching and damaging to the private lives of the American people.
“I believe we can have liberty and security. And I will not compromise your liberty for a false sense of security, not now, not ever.” – Rand Paul
Along with his announcement to officially run in the 2016 Presidential election, Paul has made the pledge to “immediately” end NSA mass surveillance if he is elected. What this could mean is the proposed end of the National Security Agency being able to collect bulk data from the phone records of Americans. Paul said that the programs are unconstitutional, and fail to achieve the goal of protecting people. It’s just surveillance for the sake of surveillance.
Many leading voices have been divided as to whether or not Edward Snowden deserves any kind of leniency or forgiveness dependent on his arrival back in the US. While he broke the law by stealing confidential documents from government agencies, he at the same time revealed the truth about how people’s privacy are being compromised at the most fundamental levels by those agencies. So which is worse?