Person of the Year

If Plainfield View had a Person of the Year award, who would it go to?

The choice would be easy – Edward Snowden. While Time Magazine made the cowardly choice of Pope Francis as their POTY, clearly no individual has made a greater impact on the world than the exiled former intelligence contractor. Widespread domestic spying has not yet been defeated – far from it – but Mr. Snowden has brought NSA overreaches into the global public consciousness. Already, despite the lack of a coherent movement against these overreaches as of right now, Washington has been forced to examine the program. A discussion is afoot in the public sphere.

These revelations have costed Mr. Snowden dearly. Not only did he lose his well-paying job, but Snowden is an international fugitive from the world’s only superpower, living in Russia. While he considers his mission already accomplished, his future is precarious, at best.

Snowden has his detractors on so-called progressive outlets like MSNBC who attack his character with no evidence. None of us will never understand the full extent of Edward Snowden’s most inner motivations. Like anyone else, including those in the public eye, he is a complex being. But we should all be in awe of his courage.

Plainfielder of the Year

If we had a Plainfielder of the Year, who would be named?

Assemblyman Jerry Green would run away with this honor almost as easily as Edward Snowden did. From being the center of his first real challenge in twenty four years in office, to his profanity laced tirade on election day, I think that’s enough to take the honor in this small city when combined with everything else that Plainfield’s Democratic godfather does during the course of any year.