Hi clo,
I think there's an important assumption in your post that I hope the US will not regain. The notion that the US holds the high ground.
The US is the most powerful country at the moment. But like other countries, it is self-serving. It always has been. The moral high ground is mostly gloss.
Yes, some countries occupy lower ground.
But really, one doesn't get to have moral pre-eminence as a country except if another country chooses to be generally wicked.
You are right that the US has occupied lower ground recently. Torture. Gitmo. Spying on everyone in the world. etc.
I agree with you it needs to try harder. Currently it thinks because it is powerful enough to do what it likes, nobody is bothered. But they are bothered.
Letit send the CIA's Italian kidnapping/rendition team back to Milan to stand trial. Then we can talk about Snowden.
The US took a horrible wrong turn after 9/11. Because it was made the victim of a horrible action, it decided the normal rules no longer applied to it. Big mistake.
My posts are generally in favour of putting the US back to the place it was before that occurred. But I agree it should be observant of suspicious activity.