I was going to blather on about my personal opinions on wikileaks and the US Goverment documents which have been (and are being) leaked. I ran across this response to an MSN.COM article which I think is most excellent, and hopefully the author (Remberasha) won’t mind me re-posting it here:
Wow — so many people here willing to give up their freedoms?
Julian has done the USA citizens a great service, yet the herd has fallen victim to the "Oppression" wolves.
It is the RIGHT of the people to know what their government is doing in their name. Secrets are the tools of Tyrants.!
-=-=-
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."
(Patrick Henry)
"No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions." –Thomas Jefferson to John Tyler, 1804. ME 11:33
"We, the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution." (Abraham Lincoln)
That if all Printers were determin’d not to print any thing till they were sure it would offend no body, there would be very little printed. (Benjamin Franklin)
Justice Hugo L. Black, quotes about Press:
The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people.
"The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the Bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe.. corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed. Abraham Lincoln
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform them." (Thomas Jefferson)
One of the responders to the article actually said “You can not run a country and tell all the people everything. Some things need to be kept secret even if you don’t like it”. Wow! So there must be an Elite who will guide and direct the rest of us, as we are clearly incapable of directing ourselves? This is quite offensive to me. I’m not ready to hand the reins of my life over to anybody, for any reason.
Honesty and straightforward dealings seem to be left behind these days. Everybody always has a “really good reason” for secrecy (and of course it has nothing to do with getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar, right?), spins, and dishonesty. Here’s an interesting experiment: Go ahead and tell the people what is really happening, and then perhaps our Votes would be more informed and useful, rather than relying mainly on campaign glitz.
Inane World 