I find the opinions on the Wikileaks saga coming out of the politically conservative side of the blogosphere to be extremely disheartening, although not at all surprising.  The general reaction seems to be that Wikileaks needs to be shut down by any means possible, up to and including assassination.  This is in stark contrast to the financial blogosphere which is generally supportive of Wikileaks.

People who claim that we need to have major changes in the political process and the financial direction of America, yet want to see Wikileaks taken down are mush-brained idiots.  I don't particularly like Assange and agree that his agenda is largely anti-American, regardless of what he claims.  However, we rarely get to choose the agent of change, and even if Wikileaks isn't the ideal way in which we'd want the truth about matters to come to light, it's far far better than the status quo.

The simple fact of the matter is that the financial-political oligarchy is so firmly entrenched that it's going to take dramatic action to change the status quo.  Those advocating a standard political solution -- elect the GOP and things will get fixed -- have their heads a mile up their asses.  The reaction by the conservative blogosphere to Wikileaks demonstrates this quite clearly.  Most would rather keep pretending that a bit of tinkering around the edges (as long as it's 'our guys' in charge) will fix things, that comfortable lies about international politics and the fiscal health of the world's banks are preferable to the truth.  The truth must not be spoken too loudly, because once it is, we must address the actual source of our problems.

This is why I think it unlikely that there will be a political solution to America's problems.  Most people are simply too afraid of real change.  Things are going to have to get truly desperate before most are willing to do much of anything.  While I continue to hold out some hope that the new Congress will make real progress, the reaction to the Wikileaks saga indicates that this hope is vague at best and unlikely to be realized.

So, I continue to prepare for increasingly desperate times.  Major changes are coming whether one likes the idea or not.  Attacking Wikileaks -- a source of hard information and an agent of change -- may stroke one's patriotic ego, but does nothing to alter or prepare for the future.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 06:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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