WikiLeaks - Not Even Close To Treason

Progressives and Libertarians are usually thought of as being on opposite ends of the political spectrum, and there are some things we disagree on (such as the size of government and how to finance that government).   But there are many things the two groups have in common also. Both groups believe in the freedom of the individual, and both groups believe the government we have should be open and honest with its citizens.

That's why I was not surprised to find one of the best Libertarian Texas blogs, The Whited Sepulchre, views the WikiLeaks affair much the same as I do.   And the author of that blog has printed an excellent piece from small business owner and Vice-Chair of the Dallas County Libertarian Party, John Jay Myers.   I agree wholeheartedly with what Myers has to say about WikiLeaks, so I am reposting it here in hopes of giving it a wider audience.   Here is what he said:

"It Is Treason To Call Wikileaks Treason" by John Jay Myers 

Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; Now get over it.

You might believe some speech might give 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, how we are supplying billions of dollars to countries who supply millions to those who want to attack us, how we back companies that supply men with young boys for sex slaves in Afghanistan. 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?

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 those who 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?

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? 

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.

Wikileaks needs to be permanent, I think 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”.

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 mega corporations like Halliburton, Lockheed Martin and BP and start dealing with other countries, 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”s 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 mean 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 than they need to exposed, no matter the cost. Wrong is wrong, and the safety of the people is no excuse for hiding illegal secrets. The more these acts are disclosed, the less likely they will occur in future.

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. 

It could be that the most enlightening thing about wikileaks is just how anti-constitutional our leaders have become.


And while we are on the topic of WikiLeaks, I would like to say something about Julian Assange (pictured above) and the criminal charges that have been filed against him in Sweden.   Those who disagree with the release of the information on WikiLeaks are using that criminal charge to attack the veracity of WikiLeaks.   And those who agree with the release of the WikiLeaks information are defending him and denigrating the charges.   Both sides are wrong in these actions.

I don't know if Assange is guilty of the charges in Sweden.   If he is, then he should be punished.   But that is a matter for the Swedish courts.   And it has NOTHING to do with the information leaked by WikiLeaks.   To condemn or defend Assange because you think it might have something to do with whether it was right to leak the State Department cables is just STUPID.   The way Assange has lived his personal life has absolutely no bearing on the veracity or the value of the information leaked.

After all, even a jerk can do something good once in a while.   And WikiLeaks did a very good thing by releasing the State Department cables.