I just wanted to drop a few ideas down into written form about WikiLeaks today. I would post a link to the site - but it keeps changing. Why? Because the site has come under cyber-attack from those who would seek to impede free speech.
Here are just a few ideas about secrets in general.
If you want to keep a secret - that is your right. But it is also your responsibility and the responsibility of everyone in the know to protect that secret. If your secret gets out - you cannot impede the god given right to communicate. You cannot beat to death those who would practice free speech.
Here is another thought. Why is the information that WikiLeaks is publishing of interest to the world, and the American people? Because it is proof that we are being lied to by the government and military of the United States of America.
You must keep secrets to win a war. But, we are not at war. No declaration of war has proceeded from the U.S. Congress - the sole body that has Constitutional Authority to declare war. You might think this is a trivial notion, because we have troops on the ground, who may be put in harms way by what is being released. First - there is no evidence that what is released is of a nature that would bring immediate harm to our troops. Second - the notion that we are conducting an illegal war is not trivial in the least. It is, in fact, the core of the matter.
If Americans came together, and agreed, through our representatives in the House and the Senate that we needed to go to war, a declaration of War would have been issued. But it was not.
Think about our history, and the sentiments surrounding World War I and World War II; and, how there are very different sentiments surrounding the Viet Nam "War". The nation came together and declared war in the first two instances - but did not in the case of Viet Nam. Subsequently - popular opinion was against the war. It was a dark time in our nation's history. While there are many factors that lead to the overall popularity of war and peace, I submit that the core issue is that we were divided before we even began. If we were not divided - the Executive branch would have sought a declaration of war.
I urge all of my friends to ask their representatives in the House and the Senate, how they feel about their Enumerated Powers, as detailed within our Constitution. If they are not willing to fight to restore them - they should not hold office.
No one act is going to fix our current situation. However, we can only do one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is a myth. We need to find the common ground, and move to restore what can be restored. I would rather see 50,000 acts of congress that are short and to the point, than a far fewer number that are large, convoluted, difficult to read due to length and compromise-induced complexity.
If we allow ourselves to be blinded by emotion and tricked into following the finger that always points to the next enemy - we will end up becoming the tyranny our founding fathers so desperately tried to avoid.
Ken Walling
AKA - Metajunkie
@kewal on twitter
for the latest on the "infowar" - search for #SaveWikiLeaks
Here are just a few ideas about secrets in general.
If you want to keep a secret - that is your right. But it is also your responsibility and the responsibility of everyone in the know to protect that secret. If your secret gets out - you cannot impede the god given right to communicate. You cannot beat to death those who would practice free speech.
Here is another thought. Why is the information that WikiLeaks is publishing of interest to the world, and the American people? Because it is proof that we are being lied to by the government and military of the United States of America.
You must keep secrets to win a war. But, we are not at war. No declaration of war has proceeded from the U.S. Congress - the sole body that has Constitutional Authority to declare war. You might think this is a trivial notion, because we have troops on the ground, who may be put in harms way by what is being released. First - there is no evidence that what is released is of a nature that would bring immediate harm to our troops. Second - the notion that we are conducting an illegal war is not trivial in the least. It is, in fact, the core of the matter.
If Americans came together, and agreed, through our representatives in the House and the Senate that we needed to go to war, a declaration of War would have been issued. But it was not.
Think about our history, and the sentiments surrounding World War I and World War II; and, how there are very different sentiments surrounding the Viet Nam "War". The nation came together and declared war in the first two instances - but did not in the case of Viet Nam. Subsequently - popular opinion was against the war. It was a dark time in our nation's history. While there are many factors that lead to the overall popularity of war and peace, I submit that the core issue is that we were divided before we even began. If we were not divided - the Executive branch would have sought a declaration of war.
I urge all of my friends to ask their representatives in the House and the Senate, how they feel about their Enumerated Powers, as detailed within our Constitution. If they are not willing to fight to restore them - they should not hold office.
No one act is going to fix our current situation. However, we can only do one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is a myth. We need to find the common ground, and move to restore what can be restored. I would rather see 50,000 acts of congress that are short and to the point, than a far fewer number that are large, convoluted, difficult to read due to length and compromise-induced complexity.
If we allow ourselves to be blinded by emotion and tricked into following the finger that always points to the next enemy - we will end up becoming the tyranny our founding fathers so desperately tried to avoid.
Ken Walling
AKA - Metajunkie
@kewal on twitter
for the latest on the "infowar" - search for #SaveWikiLeaks
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