Quote Of The Day 6-20-13

“Power that becomes too concentrated, that is accustomed to operating in secret, is deadly to a free society. Individual judgment can be a dangerous thing. The great variety of people can rationalize almost any action in their private mind, whether it be a principled stand for justice, or a destructive and unjust act of violence. We have seen, over and over as groups or self-defining classes of people come to power, that they can tend to rationalize actions that in retrospect were clearly not in the public interest, but largely in their own, from making their tasks more effective to lining their pockets with funds and abusing power.

Transparency, debate, and freedom of speech are the necessary safeguards that our Constitution has ensured. This has been one of the greatest and most effective innovations in political theory. One thing I will say is that the vilification of the messenger, in this case Snowden, by the mainstream media in the States has been disappointing, and at times, almost surreal. But why does that surprise us? We have seen the same thing occurring in numerous whistle blower cases, including the slurs and marginalization against those who have stood up to expose corruption and fraud in the markets, even by otherwise intelligent and well-meaning people. That is a culture of conformity, the status quo, and the enabling of a power that will, in the end, serve only itself. I promised you that this would be a time of ‘revelations.’ And that process is not done, but continues.

My greatest concern is that given enough time and official messaging that people will come to accept almost anything, and come to thrive on the spectacles of misery. That is the Hunger Games.”

– Jesse