Let us be clear about the case of Daniel Hale: He did not sell classified information to a foreign government. Instead, he published the immoral acts of his government to the world--and for that he is being punished. He had nothing to gain personally from doing what he did and everything to lose. He is a prisoner of conscience, not a victim of his own greed.
Another Daniel (Ellsberg) followed his conscience and I don't think it a stretch to suggest that his revelations of the Pentagon's duplicitous history of the Vietnam war were instrumental in turning the tide of public opinion against that war. Given that our "free press" spends more time and energy courting the powerful than keeping them in check, the American public depends on whistleblowers like Hale and Ellsberg to inform us of our government's nefarious doings. People like Hale and Ellsberg are on the side of the angels. The very least that the rest of us can do is support them in their self-sacrificing acts of courage and not support the government in its reprisals against them.
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