The Edward Snowden Affair is a Pass/Fail Test for All Americans.

Edward Snowden, regardless of what you think of him, has handed Americans an opportunity.  Nearly everyone is interested in this subject, because how could anyone be comfortable with the thought that the government is spending our money in order to spy on our every email, phone call, or financial move?  No one in their right mind would want that, but there, it seems, are many many people who don't really mind too awfully much, as they believe the government is to be trusted.  They believe the government's pronouncement that this is keeping us safe from "Terrorists."

I won't bother you with statistics about your chances of dying at the hands of a terrorist vs. say, driving, crossing the street, or boarding a plane.  (Hint, it's inperceptively tiny.)

I won't go into the research done about multitude of financial documents and the people who handled them...all lost in the attack on the twin towers.  I won't bother you with all the financial transactions that took place days before the attack...making a few people lots of money when their "bet" paid off.  I also won't bother you with names of the many engineers, architects, aeronautical experts, journalists, researchers, rescue workers, and military men and women who believe 911 was an inside job, staged in order to bring about what is now unfolding...a surveillance state.  A Fascist America.

I will, however, bother you with this.  You have to decide if living in a surveillance state is ok or not.  If it is, then you're probably going to stop reading this right now.  You're probably not interested.  If you don't think it's ok to be spied on by your government, what will you do about it?  Anything?  Or are you afraid now?  If you are, because you know you're being spied on, isn't that MORE of a reason to do something?  

I believe it is...and this is why.

If we don't stand up, in a very real way, and shout, however we can, through Facebook or some other way, then the surveillance state will advance, and soon, anyone who dares to speak a word of criticism against the government will become a "suspect."  Why else would they be spending all that money on surveillance, and the huge complex in Utah to store all the information?  I mean, this place is enormous!
 
Now, I don't know about you, but who do you know that doesn't have something negative to say about the government?  The fact that so many Americans are going about their business in the face of what Ed Snowden has told us is the saddest thing I've ever experienced in my life.

The ramifications are so far reaching, I can't even imagine how the world is about to change.

Glenn Greenwald is showing tremendous courage, as is James Corbett, Max Keiser, Gerald Celente and other researchers and reporters who are trying to warn us.  In the face of the murder of journalist Michael Hastings this past week, their courage must now be noted and rewarded by our attention.

America, this is a test.  I pray that we pass, but right now, I'm not hopeful.  If we cower in fear, then we are lost.

I salute Amy Goodman and Glenn Greenwald who address the current whereabouts of Edward Snowden on Democracy Now.