General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I wonder if Bradley Manning's torture encouraged Snowden to leave the US [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)It is counterproductive. You don't encourage loyalty that way.
You encourage loyalty by prosecuting people who lie to start a war.
You encourage loyalty by standing on a moral high ground and making the people who work for or with you proud to be working for and with you.
Obama does this well. He treats people with respect. But when you ask people to do things that offend their consciences, then you can expect disloyalty. An occasional transgression won't get a huge reaction, but as things add up, it will be precisely the people who are the most honest and hardworking and whom you need the most who will balk, become silently angry and may become disloyal.
It doesn't always work the way I have described, but it is pretty much the rule.
In business, people sometimes go and start their own competing business because they simply think they can do things better, but that is not relevant to Snowden.