Snowden and Ellsberg: Are Comparisons Valid?

The NPR headline reads "Daniel Ellsberg Expected Life in Prison After Leaking Pentagon Papers".  

  

 Daniel Ellsberg was called a "traitor" and every other name in the book. I was in high school. I remember. He may still be that in the eyes of a few, but for the most part, history has exonerated his actions. It's easy to compare Edward Snowden to Daniel Ellsberg because he appears to have done us all a service revealing this information on the NSA's government sanctioned overview of private phone calls of private citizens, aka, you and me.

The Political Carnival referenced this LA Times article with a fresh perspective on the revelations of Edward Snowden, focusing on, not whether or not he's a traitor but rather if the information he reveals is true. 

"Standing on principle is meaningless if there is no risk attached. That’s his cross to bear.But in the greater scheme of things, the 29-year-old infrastructure analyst did the country a service.Even President Obama, while condemning the leak, seemed to acknowledge as much. “I welcome this debate,” Obama said last week. “And I think it's healthy for our democracy.”