Leaks of government secrets to the newspapers is nothing new. Over 200 years ago, government secrets were leaked to presses in America.
But what is new and very exciting information for me, is one particular example of exactly who, and exactly why, and importantly, the subject of the secret government information which was leaked, so long ago.
Founding Father Franklin Schools Us On Leaking
In June 1773, just three years before America revolted from England and became its own country, a high profile patriot leaked highly-sensitive government secrets to the public: Benjamin Franklin.
In 1773, England was still, but not for much longer, America's government.
Benjamin Franklin was working in the Post Office at the time, as a government employee. Franklin blew the whistle on government, risking everything, sending one secret government document to the Boston Gazette in June 1773, which contained the following sentence:
"There must be an abridgement of what are called English liberties."
This illegal revelation was amazing news at the time. This secret government document, which Franklin intercepted, and spilled to the press, was written by an English government official named Thomas Hutchinson. Hutchinson's document was meant as advice for America's overseas central government. The advice described the best way to manipulate the colonists, which were getting increasingly angry, demonstrated misbehaviors, and were becoming paranoid, about their current government's questionable actions and repeated damages towards its own citizens.
As a result of the leak, the American public's festering paranoia was finally thus confirmed: Here was the proof that the government was conspiring against its own citizens. Furthermore, the loss of liberty felt by the citizens, was not coincidental, due to incompetence, nor imaginary. Loss of liberty was squarely the central intent of this nasty government, as a means of control.
America literally "went postal" in response to this revelation. Thank goodness for postal workers. Franklin's leak of government secrets must have remained foremost in the minds of the Founders as well as the citizens, because they completely revolted against England's nasty government less than three years later.
After the revolt, the founders took care to write the Constitution of the United States, wherein they demanded, in the very First Amendment, the plain truth, as demonstrated first by Franklin's example, and then echoed into the Constitution's very words:
"Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom . . . of the press."
There we have it. The fundamental purpose for even having the freedom of the press, the reason it was written into the founding documents of the United States of America, if a major Founder's experience is any indication, is to provide the means for the citizens to monitor the government; even, and especially, for monitoring so-called "government secrets." The press exists to monitor government. Monitoring government is the number-one reason for having freedom of the press!
Also in this same statement, the Founders explicitly made clear that the law-making body of government, Congress, the only body in our government with the permission to create legislation by the way, has no permission, in perpetuity, to create any law in contradiction to this requirement of freedom.
Now, furthermore, the founders proclaimed that the fundamental purpose for establishing the entire United States of America, was to protect citizen liberty, first and foremost, right up there with life and happiness. Refer to the Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, ... that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted..."
Notice that liberty is a member of the short list of unalienable rights. Notice also that government was instituted for the purpose of protecting liberty, life and happiness. Government serves liberty. See that? Government is subservient to liberty, and life, and hapiness. Read the Declaration again, and let it sink in. To me, it says that security without liberty is a hollow treasure, hollow enough that the founders threw the old government directly into the trash heap at great risk, and to great benefit.
This is not radical thinking, it's over 200 years old, in plain, but hallowed, ink. For to be without liberty, is to be without a founding reason for government, according to the founders, and so they threw off that government which tried to secretly forbid their liberty, even though that government did let them live most of the time, because just living, itself, was entirely insufficient. The founders demanded all three: life, libery, and happiness. The founders then built a whole new government which was designed this time so it would be forced to also protect their liberty and happiness too. Those who would subordinate liberty to any other goal, would resemble the enemy, in the eyes of the Founding Fathers.
The co-equal primacy of liberty and life as required by the founders, is also expressed well in the Preamble of the Constitution of the United States:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Franklin would have it no other way. Arguably the most important Patriot and Founder, Franklin himself demonstrated exactly what Americans are supposed to be doing with newspapers and government classified information. Also, Franklin by his action, demonstrated exactly what type of leak content was the most important to share with the public, and what its value was.
Just in case the demonstrations of our Revolution's history were not enough on their own, the founders wrote these laws clearly and explictly into not one but both of our major founding documents, so that the mistakes of the past government could not be forgotten.
The founders leaked, and then revolted, at great risk to life and limb and property, for the express benefit of liberty itself, as well as life and happiness, so that all three would be protected henceforth, and never again be subordinated or reduced to an afterthought.
A final point: Benjamin Franklin did not ever reveal his own source of that government secret. He kept it to himself to his grave. We have thus been schooled by a master.
References
Constitution of the United States: http://www.law.emory.edu/...
Declaration of Independence: http://www.law.indiana.edu/...
What Would the Founders Do, by Richard Brookhiser, 2006
Washington's Orwellian Consensus, by Nat Parry, http://www.consortiumnews.com/...