This is a bit contrary to the usual progressive stance on
the latest NSA data collection revelations. Although I believe that the legal
system that is in place might very well be infringing on our Fourth-Amendment
rights, I don't see a major scandal here. Rather, I see an opportunity highlight
the danger of excessive secrecy.
Back in September 2008, after giving birth to by book, No Stranger To Strange Lands, had sadly
come to an end, I felt like the only way to rid myself of a sense of
post-partum depression was to keep writing, indulging myself in writing an
undisciplined screed titled Secrecy, Democracy,and Fascism: Lessons From History. Having been watching a lot of episodes
of House, the theme was to discover the disease that was manifesting itself as
through the unfortunate symptom of runaway conspiracy theories and, I was
arguing, unwarranted distrust of the government. "Mis-diagnosing the
disease, "I wrote, "can be as bad or worse than just ignoring it."
I was deeply troubled by such issues as Karl Rove's plan to politicize the
judiciary and create one-party rule, Dick Cheney's penchant for secrecy and his
abuse of power in lashing out against Joe Wilson for outing the
administration's flawed argument for going to war in Iraq, and George Bush's excessive use of
signing statements, and I decided to take a look at what critical terms Like
"tyranny" and "fascism" that were being bandied about
really meant — what it was that our failing democracy was becoming. The issue
of secrecy seemed to me to be one of the greatest forces eroding at democracy,
which depends upon informed citizens to function properly. Secrecy also erodes
trust, and a crisis in trust can turn into an earthquake, catastrophically tearing
apart the foundation of democracy.
