Society's Journey Of Enlightenment - The Wikileaks Comparative To The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And The Pentagon Papers
First, let's make one thing clear. Freedom of information about our government's activities is a public right. This is a country that is supposed to be one of self-rule; of the people, by the people, for the people. Democracy cannot survive a government of secrets. Secrets always lead to abuses and often to outright tyranny. There may be war time exceptions that may have some marginal validity on a short term basis. But since the United States is and has been in a near permanent state of undeclared war, personally I reject this notion completely.
What we are witnessing today is not self-rule. It is not democracy. It is neoliberal elitism. Under our current system, I don't believe politicians should be making any decisions of what government practices are legitimately secret. Frankly, if the Freedom of Information Act is going to be thwarted and twisted at every turn by politicians as it has been forever, I would support a citizen's oversight council to determine what is allowed to remain secret for some stated period of time. This could be implemented through the federal courts just as a trial by jury is today. In fact, the process could be under the guidance of a federal judge just as a trial by jury. The council could be chosen to contain randomly (not by jury consultants and lawyers but by truly anonymous lottery) selected citizens who serve on one case before being disbanded. A new council would be adjourned whenever politicians sought to block access to information. The council would first be randomly selected then educated on the need for transparency for a functioning democracy before they were to rule on the case. I don't believe a federal judge alone with a life appointment determining if his Washington cronies can bamboozle Americans is in the best interest of our democracy. We need a check and balance in this process.
With the Wikileaks releases regarding American military policy, I thought I would put up a post of a comparable event from our past. An event that destroyed society's trust and confidence in Washington politicians and revealed the lack of democratic intent and lack of moral clarity by politicians in the Vietnam War. I would assume most of us are too young to be familiar with Daniel Ellsberg and the release of the Pentagon Papers but this dynamic is what I am talking about.
I saw the Ellsburg award-winning documentary some time ago but suspect it is either still playing in some independent venues or is available at libraries or through Netflix-type services. Might I add, this is an gripping and powerful documentary about clearly documented United States government fraud and abuse which was only perpetuated because of secrecy. Ellsberg was the top military analyst for the Defense Department during the Vietnam War. He was clearly a genius and the favorite son of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He was indoctrinated in the military-industrial complex ideology that was the United States war machine without any thought of right or wrong, of democracy, of moral clarity, of democratic intent. That is, until Ellsberg started to question reality when the facts before his eyes didn't align with his ideological belief system.
Ellsberg began to view the lies, fraud and secrecy of our government through the lens of a free mind. When Ellsberg realized the scope of government lies and propaganda directed at endlessyly manipulating the American people, he released classified documents into the press showing how the entire war effort and public statements by politicians was a mountain of lies based on prior lies. The truth was in black and white in classified government documents authored by countless senior officials; our government was consistently lying to the American people across multiple political administrations of both Democrats and Republicans. It revealed the secrecy of our government and their actions of having little to do with democracy or freedom or the fight for freedom but instead of a power structure run amok without accountability or any sense of moral clarity.
The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgement or of the moral sense; Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others--as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders--serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as the rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few--as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men--serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it.
-- Henry David Thoreau
The U.S. government attempted to bully the American media into prosecution if they released the classified documents during the Ellsberg crisis. Threats of treason and jail time. Not for putting our troops in harms way or exposing military plans to our enemies but for exposing the endless lies of politicians. Premeditated lies with an intent to control and mislead the American people. And if they could have, they would have put Ellsburg in prison for the rest of his life. Indeed they tried.
In a society of self-rule, a society where politicians are public servants entrusted with protecting our democratic ideals, is it treason to expose the secrecy of the state which is meant to hide lies, manipulation and morally-dubious activity or is it treason to be the ones manufacturing the lies and manipulation and the use government privilege and trust to hide it?
Now we have similar leaks to an international organization, Wikileaks, which cannot be manipulated and threatened by Washington power elites. The founder of Wikileaks has intimated that these released documents are just the beginning. If highly sensitive information is divulged in coming weeks or months, we could very well witness atrocities and crimes we thought our government incapable of. We have heard rumor of many of these for over a year as the Washington political apparatus tries to cajole and manipulate foreign political entities around the world to keep its secrets for fear of what the truth will bring. War crimes? A complete loss of confidence in Washington politicians? A loss of America's standing as the beacon of freedom and justice? A loss of confidence in America's financial system - the political tool used to wage hegemony on the world? All of the above?
The accumulating chinks that have developed over the last few decades that have accelerated over the last three or four years keep adding up to an overburdened and ever metastasizing crisis for the status quo. Each of these chinks manifests themselves through a more enlightened society and more enlightened world. And remember, that is one of our theses we have written of for years - that the world is experiencing a new age of enlightenment. To become as Buddha is to release one's belief system. To no longer accept what one is taught or told or brainwashed or manipulated into believing but to instead trust what one uncovers within one's self on the journey through life. To think for one's self and reject the status quo. Enlightenment is therefore a process the status quo will never participate in. They are deluded by their own brainwashed deceit, power, greed, arrogance and corruption. Which is why they never realize they are on the verge of failure or even outright collapse. Remember our post on the fall of Rome:
"Rome did not fall at the hands of its citizens but instead at the hands of elitists who cared little for society. Elitists who robbed Rome's citizens and society for personal gain. Of course, they robbed Rome by legal means. And, it was most assuredly called free markets backed up by laws of the state."
Our government has lost its moral clarity and has proven it is not to be trusted with the "secrets" it deems necessary for its operation. Whether those are secrets of the Federal Reserve, secret meetings where Goldman Sachs participated in its own bailout using taxpayer money, secrets of spying on American citizens, secrets of assassination plots against American citizens, secrets of torture, secret meetings with corporations and lobbyists to dismantle our rule of law, secret trade meetings that has destroyed our economic opportunity and jobs base and on and on and on. Secrecy and government are in fact the basis for tyranny. They are the basis for the corruption and fraud which leads to an internal failure of the state.
We can never go back to the way things were less than two years ago before the global economic crisis. It's over. The Wikileaks debacle is just another in a line of unmanageable crises for the status quo. So now we simply watch as the status quo's hand waving efforts at creating new deceptions play out. The final hand in a game of cards in the house of cards. As much as they try, they don't yet realize it's game over. As a society, as human beings, we have learned too much. And in that process we have learned too much about ourselves. We have learned that this is not a world we wish to perpetuate. Nor is it one we wish to leave to our children. And regardless of our shortcomings as part of the human condition, we all generally seek an idealism about what we as a people stand for. This isn't it. Something is very wrong in Washington. The cesspool of fraud and corruption has been exposed and it's impossible to look past it. There is no way to paper over the events of the day and go back to some delusional world where we believe the endless pablum puke fed to us by political idiots and corporate bureaucrats.
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the state can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the state to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state." -- Joseph Goebbels, Nazi chief propagandist
The age of enlightenment continues to gather in critical mass. And with it will come a new reality and a return to truth and moral clarity.
The Most Dangerous Man in America Documentary Trailer
What we are witnessing today is not self-rule. It is not democracy. It is neoliberal elitism. Under our current system, I don't believe politicians should be making any decisions of what government practices are legitimately secret. Frankly, if the Freedom of Information Act is going to be thwarted and twisted at every turn by politicians as it has been forever, I would support a citizen's oversight council to determine what is allowed to remain secret for some stated period of time. This could be implemented through the federal courts just as a trial by jury is today. In fact, the process could be under the guidance of a federal judge just as a trial by jury. The council could be chosen to contain randomly (not by jury consultants and lawyers but by truly anonymous lottery) selected citizens who serve on one case before being disbanded. A new council would be adjourned whenever politicians sought to block access to information. The council would first be randomly selected then educated on the need for transparency for a functioning democracy before they were to rule on the case. I don't believe a federal judge alone with a life appointment determining if his Washington cronies can bamboozle Americans is in the best interest of our democracy. We need a check and balance in this process.
With the Wikileaks releases regarding American military policy, I thought I would put up a post of a comparable event from our past. An event that destroyed society's trust and confidence in Washington politicians and revealed the lack of democratic intent and lack of moral clarity by politicians in the Vietnam War. I would assume most of us are too young to be familiar with Daniel Ellsberg and the release of the Pentagon Papers but this dynamic is what I am talking about.
I saw the Ellsburg award-winning documentary some time ago but suspect it is either still playing in some independent venues or is available at libraries or through Netflix-type services. Might I add, this is an gripping and powerful documentary about clearly documented United States government fraud and abuse which was only perpetuated because of secrecy. Ellsberg was the top military analyst for the Defense Department during the Vietnam War. He was clearly a genius and the favorite son of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He was indoctrinated in the military-industrial complex ideology that was the United States war machine without any thought of right or wrong, of democracy, of moral clarity, of democratic intent. That is, until Ellsberg started to question reality when the facts before his eyes didn't align with his ideological belief system.
Ellsberg began to view the lies, fraud and secrecy of our government through the lens of a free mind. When Ellsberg realized the scope of government lies and propaganda directed at endlessyly manipulating the American people, he released classified documents into the press showing how the entire war effort and public statements by politicians was a mountain of lies based on prior lies. The truth was in black and white in classified government documents authored by countless senior officials; our government was consistently lying to the American people across multiple political administrations of both Democrats and Republicans. It revealed the secrecy of our government and their actions of having little to do with democracy or freedom or the fight for freedom but instead of a power structure run amok without accountability or any sense of moral clarity.
The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgement or of the moral sense; Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others--as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders--serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as the rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few--as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men--serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it.
-- Henry David Thoreau
The U.S. government attempted to bully the American media into prosecution if they released the classified documents during the Ellsberg crisis. Threats of treason and jail time. Not for putting our troops in harms way or exposing military plans to our enemies but for exposing the endless lies of politicians. Premeditated lies with an intent to control and mislead the American people. And if they could have, they would have put Ellsburg in prison for the rest of his life. Indeed they tried.
In a society of self-rule, a society where politicians are public servants entrusted with protecting our democratic ideals, is it treason to expose the secrecy of the state which is meant to hide lies, manipulation and morally-dubious activity or is it treason to be the ones manufacturing the lies and manipulation and the use government privilege and trust to hide it?
Now we have similar leaks to an international organization, Wikileaks, which cannot be manipulated and threatened by Washington power elites. The founder of Wikileaks has intimated that these released documents are just the beginning. If highly sensitive information is divulged in coming weeks or months, we could very well witness atrocities and crimes we thought our government incapable of. We have heard rumor of many of these for over a year as the Washington political apparatus tries to cajole and manipulate foreign political entities around the world to keep its secrets for fear of what the truth will bring. War crimes? A complete loss of confidence in Washington politicians? A loss of America's standing as the beacon of freedom and justice? A loss of confidence in America's financial system - the political tool used to wage hegemony on the world? All of the above?
The accumulating chinks that have developed over the last few decades that have accelerated over the last three or four years keep adding up to an overburdened and ever metastasizing crisis for the status quo. Each of these chinks manifests themselves through a more enlightened society and more enlightened world. And remember, that is one of our theses we have written of for years - that the world is experiencing a new age of enlightenment. To become as Buddha is to release one's belief system. To no longer accept what one is taught or told or brainwashed or manipulated into believing but to instead trust what one uncovers within one's self on the journey through life. To think for one's self and reject the status quo. Enlightenment is therefore a process the status quo will never participate in. They are deluded by their own brainwashed deceit, power, greed, arrogance and corruption. Which is why they never realize they are on the verge of failure or even outright collapse. Remember our post on the fall of Rome:
"Rome did not fall at the hands of its citizens but instead at the hands of elitists who cared little for society. Elitists who robbed Rome's citizens and society for personal gain. Of course, they robbed Rome by legal means. And, it was most assuredly called free markets backed up by laws of the state."
Our government has lost its moral clarity and has proven it is not to be trusted with the "secrets" it deems necessary for its operation. Whether those are secrets of the Federal Reserve, secret meetings where Goldman Sachs participated in its own bailout using taxpayer money, secrets of spying on American citizens, secrets of assassination plots against American citizens, secrets of torture, secret meetings with corporations and lobbyists to dismantle our rule of law, secret trade meetings that has destroyed our economic opportunity and jobs base and on and on and on. Secrecy and government are in fact the basis for tyranny. They are the basis for the corruption and fraud which leads to an internal failure of the state.
We can never go back to the way things were less than two years ago before the global economic crisis. It's over. The Wikileaks debacle is just another in a line of unmanageable crises for the status quo. So now we simply watch as the status quo's hand waving efforts at creating new deceptions play out. The final hand in a game of cards in the house of cards. As much as they try, they don't yet realize it's game over. As a society, as human beings, we have learned too much. And in that process we have learned too much about ourselves. We have learned that this is not a world we wish to perpetuate. Nor is it one we wish to leave to our children. And regardless of our shortcomings as part of the human condition, we all generally seek an idealism about what we as a people stand for. This isn't it. Something is very wrong in Washington. The cesspool of fraud and corruption has been exposed and it's impossible to look past it. There is no way to paper over the events of the day and go back to some delusional world where we believe the endless pablum puke fed to us by political idiots and corporate bureaucrats.
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the state can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the state to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state." -- Joseph Goebbels, Nazi chief propagandist
The age of enlightenment continues to gather in critical mass. And with it will come a new reality and a return to truth and moral clarity.
The Most Dangerous Man in America Documentary Trailer
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