I can't has cheezburger

It seems the US government is doomed to never learn from history.  Though I’m a little late to the party and the controversy du jour is probably soon to be replaced with another (remember how everyone was complaining about the TSA just a few weeks ago?) I have been pondering about this issue and I thought I’d weigh in.  Because I’m such a renowned expert in diplomatic affairs I’m sure the public has a lot to gain from this blog post.

Every damn time something classified gets leaked, the US government will immediately go on record talking about how the leak is a threat to our national security.  This is despite the fact that there exist no record of any attack on the US that came as the direct result of leaked information becoming available to the general public.  From a more broad perspective, the stance “the government needs to keep secrets so that the enemy doesn’t find out” is a little asinine.  Why is it that the US government’s constituents should be trusted as little with information as some terrorist group that wants to take down the US government? Why should we, the people of the US, the people who fund and ultimately control this government, let our own government have policies that keep information and secrets from us?  It doesn’t seem right.  Even if the secrets are being kept because although they seem unsavory to the general public they are truly what’s  in our best interest, that reasoning to keep secrets doesn’t hold water because our constitution has structured the government to be a representative democracy for the very reason that we know that you can’t just put everything to a popular vote (otherwise minority rights would be a lot less existent).

And out of this government secrecy in which uncomfortable truths are being created and kept secret, whistleblowers are born.  And when Wikileaks started to leak these cables, i noticed something interesting happening.  A controversy was forming, but it wasn’t the controversy I was expecting to form.  Sure, with some of the leaks, there was a bit of disgust around the actual things the leaks exposed about our diplomatic ties with other countries, but the really hot topic overall has been surrounding Wikileaks itself and its founder, Julian Assange.  An obvious smear campaign has been launched right at him, and pundits around the country are weighing in not on the content of the leaks but on the leaker.

Is this as alarming to you as it is to me?  It has just been exposed to the masses that the US has been involved in some pretty shady (if not shady, at least douchey) dealings diplomatically (and otherwise) and our focus is on the messenger.  Is this because we’ve been programmed to be afraid of knowing too much about what our government is doing, or is it just because the practices simply don’t come as a surprise to any of us?

I’m interested to know what you guys think.  Are there good secrets that ought to be kept from people?  Is it important for diplomats to have a private forum so they don’t feel afraid to discuss things openly?  Are you alarmed at how the US’s practices have changed so little in the Obama administration as opposed to the Bush administration?  I’m curious to hear what you readers have to say.  Fire away in the comments!