BBC carried a story today indicating the ACLU and Amnesty International are starting a campaign to get President Obama to grant a pardon to Edward Snowden. This is much like asking President Washington, our first President, to pardon Benedict Arnold, the infamous traitor.
I am never amazed by anything the sanctimonious ACLU does in the name of civil liberties, but this one is stretching even the limits of that group. The man is a traitor, clear and simple. There has never been a more clear case than the one he represents. He stole material that causes, by definition, "grave harm to the United States" and gave it to a foreign power. He can hide behind newspapers and video interviews, but not from the law. He did it and no power in the world can save him..... Except.
At the end of the term of a President, he can give out pardons to people who he thinks need them. It falls on Presidents to pardon people for transgressions that were illegal, immoral, or otherwise prosecutable. There may have been a reason for this in history, but I am loathe to try to find out what it was. It seems antiquated and a misuse of executive privilege. That doesn't mean anyone will try to change it. We can't stop a President from pardoning someone such as a cold-blooded killer, because he can't be impeached after he leaves office. He becomes a non-person then who is forgiven for everything. So, nothing can be done to stop him if this campaign succeeds.
We need to lend our voices to our Congressional leaders, government officials, and anyone who will listen to try to influence this President to not do something so stupid. Maybe a few editorials in newspapers might help. Maybe we could appeal directly to the White House, if someone there would listen. The people in the ACLU and Amnesty International think they will.
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