Saturday, August 07, 2010

The Era of Secret Government is over

That's my opinion, anyway, as expressed in my latest C4SS column, "The Valley of the Shadow of Wikileaks." Teaser:

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holds up a copy of the Guardian newspaper during a press conference at the Frontline Club in central London, July 26, 2010. REUTERS/Andrew Winning (BRITAIN - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST)
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange holds up a copy of the Guardian newspaper during a press conference at the Frontline Club in central London, July 26, 2010. REUTERS/Andrew Winning (BRITAIN - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST)
The state (any state, but in this case the United States) claims a right to keep secrets from those whom it governs, from those upon whose consent its purported "legitimacy" rests, from those who are taxed to pay in the first place for the activities which generate those secrets.

Ixnay on that aimclay!

It's the equivalent of the janitor telling the building owner "it's none of your business whether or not I cleaned the toilets, and if you try to have a look yourself I'll hit you over the head with my mop and lock you in the broom closet. Now hurry up and sign my paycheck, I've got a date tonight."

That the US government considers publication of the Wikileaks Afghan War Diary even remotely controversial shatters the whole "consent of the governed" myth. The state doesn’t work for you and in this matter it's not even pretending to.

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