I would rather be without a state than without a voice. Edward Snowden More Quotes by Edward Snowden More Quotes From Edward Snowden A political decision has been made not to irritate the intelligence community. The spy agencies are really embarrassed, they're really sore - the revelations really hurt their mystique. The last ten years, they were getting the Zero Dark Thirty treatment - they're the heroes. The surveillance revelations bring them back to Big Brother kind of narratives, and they don't like that at all. Edward Snowden zero brother hurt When we look at how, constitutionally, only Congress can declare war, and that is routinely ignored. Not NATO or the UN, but Congress has to authorize these endless wars, and it isn't. Edward Snowden ignored war looks The only way I could be extradited is through the principle of what my lawyers call "politics trumps law." Edward Snowden principles law way People do not like being lied to, and they do not like having their rights violated. So as soon as [officials] stop making arguments, you see support for me starts to rise. Edward Snowden support rights people There are unquestionable violations of our Constitution. Edward Snowden violation constitution I must say I'm surprised by how skeptical of the [Barack] Obama administration The Nation has been. Edward Snowden skeptical barack administration Many of our ally states don't have these constitutional protections - in the UK, in New Zealand, in Australia. They've lost the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause. All of those countries, in the wake of these surveillance revelations, rushed through laws that were basically ghostwritten by the National Security Agency to enable mass surveillance without court oversight, without all of the standard checks and balances that one would expect. Edward Snowden agency law country The courts were afraid to challenge executive declarations of what would happen. Now, over the last year, we have seen - in almost every single court that has had this sort of national-security case - that they have become markedly more skeptical. Edward Snowden lasts challenges years You have ceded the concept of your own rights. You've converted them into something you get as a revocable privilege from the government, something that can be abrogated at its convenience. And that has diminished the measure of liberty within a society. Edward Snowden liberty government rights If we allow the United States to set the precedent that national borders don't matter when it comes to the protection of people's information, other countries are watching. They're paying attention to our examples and what is normative behavior in terms of dealing with digital information. Edward Snowden united-states country people One of the reasons that I came forward and sort burned of my life to the ground, and I can't go back and see my family in the United States - I obviously lost my job, which I was quite comfortable with. I lost my home. It was because I felt there was no alternative. Edward Snowden united-states home jobs If Congress is going to investigate baseball players about whether or not they told the truth, how can we justify giving the most powerful intelligence official, [James] Clapper, a pass? This is how J. Edgar Hoover ended up in charge of the FBI forever. Edward Snowden powerful player baseball You would be surprised how effective, at least for influencing low-information voters, negative propaganda about me is. Edward Snowden voters information negative Radicalism and extremism, while they are dangers, they exist in every society on some level. Edward Snowden radicalism levels danger I don't think it is the most important thing. I think it is the fact that the director of national intelligence gave a false statement to Congress under oath, which is a felony. If we allow our officials to knowingly break the law publicly and face no consequences, we're instituting a culture of immunity, and this is what I think historically will actually be considered the biggest disappointment of the [Barack] Obama administration. Edward Snowden disappointment law thinking Do we want to emulate China in the way that China emulates the West? I think, for most Americans, the answer to that question would be no. Edward Snowden would-be answers thinking We are a representative democracy. But how did we get there? We got there through direct action. And that's enshrined in our Constitution and in our values. Edward Snowden direct-action constitution democracy I'm familiar with Andrei Sakharov reputation, but I don't know his personal history at all. Edward Snowden reputation familiar personal-history The power of the presidency is important, but it is not determinative. Edward Snowden presidency important [Occupy Wall Street] had an impact on consciousness. It was not effective in realizing change. Edward Snowden impact wall realizing