In 2013, the United States fell victim to a huge cyber dilemma caused by the notorious Edward Snowden. The disclosure of thousands upon thousands of files from the United States government opened up the NSA's tracking systems, revealing the very picture of the world of George Orwell's "1984." Many Americans hate him, as he was granted asylum in Russia after leaking US files to all possible enemies to view. People call him a whistleblower, an informant, a traitor.

However, Snowden may be the most patriotic of modern American figures. He was a man who stood for transparency, advocated against the violations of our personal liberties at the expense of his own safety.

For those who don't know the story, Snowden was a former special forces reserve who was medically discharged and began work for the CIA as a computer specialist. He was offered a contractor job at the National Security Agency (NSA) and began working for Booz Allen Hamilton. In 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong and revealed thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill. He was then charged with espionage and accessing and releasing unauthorized documents and fled the United States. Currently seeking new asylum, he resides in an undisclosed location in Russia.

Snowden's leaks have brought up the conversation regarding national security and privacy. The information Snowden leaked contained disclosures on multiple global surveillance programs, including those from the NSA, Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance (FVEY), and multiple European countries.

Snowden's critics would say that the need for security is of the utmost importance to the government. In an ever threatening world, countries must do anything necessary to keep themselves safe. As said in Hobbes' social contract theory, people function in society by giving up some fundamental rights. In exchange for giving up rights, the government must then provide security for people who follow the contract, thereby making the violation of rights worthwhile. The United States and other Western nations are becoming increasingly paranoid of terrorist threats since September 11th, 2001. In a way, these security programs were needed to keep our country safe and have worked since there has not been a major terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11.

However, critics fail to realize that the world has changed. They claim freedom is only possible with security, but that security has come to hindering freedoms of the people. Snowden claims his motivations came when the Director of National Security, James Clapper, lied to Congress about monitoring telecommunications of Americans, especially after such actions were deemed unconstitutional. With no transparency, the government is free to do what they please with our information.

If this sounds familiar, you may have read "1984" by George Orwell and the Big Brother in the story is coming to life. The Party, in our case the government, wants to keep individual thinking down by monitoring all communication. By keeping a docile and absent-minded population, the Party is able to maintain power and push its own agenda, without caring for the good of the people. This is increased by the perpetual war that occurs in "1984" in order to keep the population thinking they need the security provided by the government, therefore nobody questions this mass monitoring. In order to keep the government in check and maintain the power of the people, people like Edward Snowden are very necessary.

The original patriots of the USA fought against an oppressive British rule and fought for the right to self-govern. Now, we were almost close to losing that right once again and whistle-blower Edward Snowden was our Thomas Paine. Just like "Common Sense," Snowden's leaks can bring issues to every American and the thinking we as a public do in debate help to bring the government back to our level. Self-government and the right to transparency is what the patriot Edward Snowden advocated for. In an ironic twist, this patriot is now being called a traitor by the very people who are beginning to look like those America fought to escape.