The Conservative Case for WikiLeaks

"...

But the worst hypocrisy throughout this controversy has been in conservatives reflexively defending the government and attacking WikiLeaks. Since when have conservatives believed that Washington should be able to shroud any action it likes in secrecy and that revealing government’s nefarious deeds is tantamount to treason? Isn’t it government officials who might secretly work for corporate, ideological or transnational interests — and against the national interest — who are betraying their country?

...


Decentralizing government power, limiting it, and challenging it was the Founders’ intent and these have always been core conservative principles. Conservatives should prefer an explosion of whistleblower groups like WikiLeaks to a federal government powerful enough to take them down. Government officials who now attack WikLleaks don’t fear national endangerment, they fear personal embarrassment. And while scores of conservatives have long promised to undermine or challenge the current monstrosity in Washington, D.C., it is now an organization not recognizably conservative that best undermines the political establishment and challenges its very foundations."

- rest at www.amconmag.com/blog/2010/12/09/the-conservative-case-for-wikileaks/

 

Nope. I support limited, constitutional government. I am a libertarian.

 

As a supporter of limited, constitutional government and of government of, by, and for the people I will not defend these actions by Leviathan:

“in the past few years, governments have designated so much information secret that you wonder whether they intend the time of day to be classified. The number of new secrets designated as such by the U.S. government has risen 75% … . At the same time, the number of documents and other communications created using those secrets has skyrocketed nearly 10 times…” (from the article)

 

I'm not Ron Paul. Of course, when Ron Paul was coming of age and when I was coming of age there was not much difference between being a conservative and being a libertarian. Just read books like the ones that influenced me - "The Conscience of a Conservative" by Barry Goldwater and "In Defense of Freedom: A Conservative Credo" by Frank S. Meyer - and one will see this.

Nowadays a lot of conservatives have gone off the limited government reservation, especially in the area of foreign policy, by falling for the neocon line.

 

From the article:

"No one questions that governments must maintain a certain level of secrecy, including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who told Time that “Secrecy is important for many things … [but it] shouldn’t be used to cover up abuses.” The entire premise of Assange’s whistleblower organization is this: To what degree is government secrecy justified? And when particular secrets could be damaging to the other partner in the United States government’s relationship — the American people — should these secrets be revealed in the name of protecting the public?

How often does our government use “national security” simply as an excuse to cover up questionable dealings? Reports Time: “in the past few years, governments have designated so much information secret that you wonder whether they intend the time of day to be classified. The number of new secrets designated as such by the U.S. government has risen 75% … . At the same time, the number of documents and other communications created using those secrets has skyrocketed nearly 10 times…”

To say that government must keep secrets is not to say that all government secrets must be kept."

 

Something is better than nothing.

 

I don't trust government. Do you?

Our government is so far removed from any constitutional moorings that our Founding Fathers must be spinning rapidly in their graves.

 

Then you really shouldn't be reading my posts and you certainly shouldn't be responding them. That would save you some time to do other things. :smilewinkgrin:

 

hehehehehe :thumbs:

 

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive." - Thomas Jefferson

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy