Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. Now get over it.
You might believe some speech gives away national secrets, for instance how we prop up puppet dictators in foreign countries, or how we have been training troops who are now turning against us in droves, or how we are supplying billions of dollars to countries who supply those who want to attack us, or how we back companies that supply men with young boys for sex slaves in Afghanistan, or how the leaders of the countries we manipulate are now scared that we aren’t bombing Iran. Surely no one should become privy to this.
Or should they? I am shocked to realize that the American people don’t stand up and say, "Why are we putting in these puppet dictators? Why are we arming and training troops to fight us? Why are we giving billions to those who want to do us harm? Why are we pimping young boys? Why would we want to bomb Iran in the name of Saudi Arabia?"
It seems to me we have an ostrich mentality in America. Americans can choose to have information, or they can go lock step with their favorite news channel and fight for the right to keep their heads buried in the sand.
They say knowledge is power. Would we rather cede that power to the same government officials 87% of us are completely dissatisfied with? Do you really believe that in matters of foreign policy this corrupt group of ninnies somehow becomes more competent? Is it possible that their secret actions actually put our nation, the American people, and our military personnel in more danger?
We have to make a choice, do we want to know these things that could save countless lives and restore America as the shining light on the hill, or should we sacrifice our greatness for what may harm a few? Would our leaders put those few in harm’s way in the first place if government actions were truly public?
It’s pretty odd that a foreigner who exposes unconstitutional secrets that enable a dangerous foreign policy of belligerence should be accused of treason and condemned for risking the safety of our nation. Instead, WikiLeaks actually needs to become a permanent policy for American government. I think all government correspondence that does not involve missile codes or troop locations should be public, and any government correspondence that isn’t made public should be labeled as treason.
We should just make all government wires transparent, starting now. Tell all federal employees, "Oh by the way, all of your correspondence is public. Any correspondence you engage in that is ‘government business’ not made public will be labeled as treason." Freedom of information and government transparency make us safer by keeping government officials accountable to the American people and to the Constitution they swore to defend and uphold. WikiLeaks would be the full body scanner for the United States government.
Were you aware that Iran was offering to help in the stabilization of Iraq and the war on terror if we would remove their name as a sponsor of terror? I was not, but thanks to WikiLeaks I am.
Maybe we would consider diplomatic above board solutions rather than espionage and corporate sabotage. Maybe we would stop doing backroom deals with megacorporations like Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, and BP. Maybe we should start dealing with other countries and their people, and let those people stand up for their own freedom instead of being inspired to hate us by our foreign policy of corporatism.
I imagine there is quite a bit of "small stuff" in the 248,000 yet to be released documents that the media has not sifted through to protect the innocent, which I might add is a procedure that has happened to all 1200 of the pages released so far.
But I don’t sweat the "small stuff." What concerns me is the big stuff, the obvious information that reveals our government is lying in regards to how our trillion-dollar foreign policy is working out. They are lying to us in regards to the actions we are taking in other countries and even lying to us in regards to whether we are violating the Constitution.
If the government is involved with illegal activities then they need to be exposed no matter the cost. Wrong is wrong, and the safety of the people is no excuse for hiding illegal secrets that threaten the safety of the people. The more these acts are disclosed, the less likely they will occur in future, and the safer we will be.
The most disturbing factor about WikiLeaks is the nature of the attacks from the political class and the media. It should be startling to all of us the lengths those who are supposed to protect us will go in order to maintain a web of lies. Those lies allow government to exercise powers it does not have. We must never forget that an unchecked government is the greatest threat to our freedom, and a government immune to scrutiny will inevitably escape its constitutional bindings.
It could be that the most enlightening thing about WikiLeaks is just how anti-Constitution our leaders have become.
