Daily Prompt: Person of the Year

For today's Daily Prompt, here's the following mission:You’re asked to nominate someone for TIME’s Person of the Year. Who would it be, and why?Photographers, artists, poets: show us BIG.  Well I nominate Edward Snowden.  If you've been living under a rock, or blissfully lounging away on an island of apathy, Edward Snowden is the young man who blew the whistle on the potentially illegal NSA surveillance programs. If you don't know what that is, Google it.  Basically, the NSA has been listening in on phone calls, emails, and pretty much any other kind of electronic communication at will, without any court approval or oversight.  The situation is so tenuous, the ACLU has sued the NSA over this program.Mr. Snowden was working in this program, and he thought it was wrong.  He felt that the average American's privacy was being invaded, and so he leaked the existence of this program to the press.This man is a patriot...a real patriot.  We've become so removed from the ideals that fostered us as a nation, and that we often champion and discuss, but rarely put into practice.If the people in charge are attempting to oppress you, or disparage your way of life, say something, and more importantly, DO SOMETHING!I tip my hat to Edward Snowden.  I think he did the right thing.  The government will tell you that he endangered your safety, that he endangered national security, and that mining through every piece of information offered by a majority of citizens is completely ok....and it isn't.And telling the world about it is a threat to security.  That's bulls**t. You government simply want to go unchecked in their ever expansive power.I'm not some crazy anti-government person. I think the government, under the proper leadership has much to offer us, and is very necessary. I've also been an avid Obama supporter, and voted for him twice.  However, I think that he can be just as grimy as any other politician (can anyone say "Monsanto"?  I knew you could!).However, I think the key to a democratic government is a transparent government.  And we haven't had a transparent government in quite possibly my lifetime.  It's been hijacked, hoodwinked, bamboozled, and led astray (Go Denzel!!!).  Mr. Snowden made our government a bit more transparent.  He pulled the curtain back, at least for an instant, to show the face of the wizard behind it, and how far he is willing to go in his pursuits.In addition, I feel that Edward Snowden sheds light on the fabulous ideal on the idea that there are some measures that should never be undertaken, even in the face of better "security".

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."  ~ Benjamin Franklin

What good is life if you're living it in a police state?I salute Edward Snowden, and he is my nomination for Time's Person of the Year.  Thank you for all that you've done, and for putting your life and well-being in jeopardy for the rest of us.  Being a veteran, people call me a hero, but actually, you're much more of a hero than I am.

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." ~ Martin Luther King Jr.