Greater transparency and openness of all governments is a good thing -- including democracies, kleptocracies, monarchies, theocracies, the Vatican, corporate and state-owned enterprises. WikiLeaks provides the means for whistle-blowers in any country, such as China, Burma, Saudi Arabia, to expose corrupt, unethical or brutal activities.
America should cease all harassment and persecution of WikiLeaks and let whistle-blowers in dictatorships do their job and unmask their masters.
The fostering of openness and democracy by WikiLeaks is not anti-American. It is anti-anti-democratic. Like all democracies, there are significant elements in American institutions and society that have a decidedly anti-democratic bent. WikiLeaks helps to expose that, both directly with revelations, and indirectly by exposing the unsavory attempts to silence WikiLeaks.
It is a big plus that the sole world superpower is a democracy and not one of the would-be alternatives. We should support American democracy and those Americans who try to strengthen democracy. It must be difficult being a democratic superpower in a Hobbesian world. But that is the task.
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