Set it aside

We protested what the government was doing, in my day too. You heard of the Viet Nam war, right? Still, we loved this country and only wanted to make things better. When the people protesting the anti-war protest said "Love it or leave it," I stayed.

We didn't do things to hurt the country. Edward Snowden did things to hurt the country. Every time his name comes up again in the news, it is because of some new thing that is hurting the country.

You find yourself sympathetic to Edward Snowden. Because of what the government is doing. Well I don't like it either, what the government is doing. But if Snowden wanted to expose some bad thing, he could have exposed that thing without exposing the whole soft underbelly and weakening the nation.

You find yourself sympathetic to Edward Snowden in ways I am not, why? Because you have been exposed to two generations of economic decline. You have been listening for 30 years to a growing chorus that sings of the evils of our government. And you take the economic decline as proof of it.

Challenge and response, Toynbee said. The challenge is our economic decline. Our response determines our destiny.

Civilizations die by suicide, Toynbee said. Set aside everything you've been told for the past 30 years, I say. Set it aside.