Edward Snowden's bigger target: the nation-state system

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden continues to loom large in the world's news. Revelations from the trove of data he disclosed to journalists roll out on a near-weekly basis, followed by denials and excuses from politicians and bureaucrats he exposes as responsible for rights violations around the world. Citizenfour, a documentary covering his heroic actions on behalf of the public, just grabbed the Oscar for best documentary feature.

It's easy to get lost in the minutiae of Snowden's individual disclosures. And that's OK. Each disclosure tells us something important about those who rule us. But there's more to it than the details. There's a bigger picture.

In a February 23 "Ask Me Anything" discussion on Reddit, Snowden encapsulated that bigger picture. "[W]e the people," he wrote, "will implement systems that provide for a means of not just enforcing our rights, but removing from governments the ability to interfere with those rights."

That's the whole ball game right there, folks. The purpose of political government has never been, as the US Declaration of Independence claims, "to secure these rights [life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness] … deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed". The purpose of political government has always been to monopolise violations of rights and to use those violations to redistribute power, control and wealth from you to the political class.

Many - perhaps most - of us don't get it. Sometimes Snowden himself doesn't seem quite sure of it. But the politicians know it deep down in their guts.

When the world's panicked potentates and powermongers squeal that people like Snowden make it more difficult for them to "protect" us, what they really mean is that people like Snowden unlock and open the doors of the cages we're kept in.