Ron Paul questioned why Republicans are coming to the defense of big government and the Obama administration

During an appearance on MSNBC’s Daily Rundown, former Congressman Ron Paul questioned why Republicans are coming to the defense of big government and the Obama administration by calling for NSA whistleblower Ed Snowden to be arrested.

Challenging the demonization of Snowden by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who have accused the whistleblower of committing treason, Paul lambasted Republicans such as John Boehner for siding with Obama.

“The political foolishness of Republicans running to rescue Obama – the American people are sick and tired of all this snooping, prying and surveillance, so the Republicans run to the rescue of Obama and say ‘we passed those laws, they’re good laws, we want to preserve those laws’ – so it doesn’t even make political sense,” said Paul.

In the aftermath of the scandal, numerous Republicans have called for Snowden to be arrested rather than defending him as a patriot who gave up his life to warn that Constitutional rights are being eviscerated by the National Security Agency.

- New York Republican Peter King called for “extradition proceedings at the earliest date” and for Snowden to be prosecuted.

- The Republican head of the House intelligence committee, Mike Rogers, said Snowden had “released just enough information to literally be dangerous.”

- South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham described Snowden’s actions as, “not as one of patriotism but potentially a felony.”

- House Speaker John Boehner went further, labeling Snowden a “traitor” who should be dealt with as an enemy of the state.

Ron Paul acknowledged that what Snowden did was technically illegal, but warned that the far bigger threat came from big government. “It is probably illegal, there are laws against this, but what about people who are breaking the law, violating the Constitution….which one has the higher order – the Constitution, the written law, or the authority of the executive branch who controls the enforcement of laws?” asked Paul, adding that the bigger the government grew, the greater the threat.

Paul labeled Snowden a “hero” for taking a risk in telling the truth and said that people in authority should be questioned for breaking the law.

The former Congressman noted that Snowden was forced to go public because going to the FBI and other government agencies “doesn’t seem to pan out very well.”

Paul questioned why the NSA needed to vacuum up all telephone data in order to catch a minority of bad guys, remarking, “If they’re looking for ten people why do they have to look at 300 million people’s activities – it makes no sense whatsoever – it’s such a blatant violation of the language of the Constitution, the 4th amendment.”

Ron Paul echoed the sentiments of his son Rand in advocating that the Supreme Court be used to decide the constitutionality of NSA spying, but added that educating people about their liberties and the threat posed by big government was equally important.

“When you have big government, you have this kind of abuse….abuse comes from big government and the natural tendency of individuals who hold this power to abuse it….if we expect the government to be the nanny state it’ll be big, it’ll be abusive,” said Paul.