[2003-02-14]

On Trusting the Government

Someone recently made the following remark to me (apropos Iraq):

"Sometimes you have to trust what the government is saying. You don't have all the information; they do."

I disagree.

I believe that, if we put that sort of trust in our government, we are abrogating our responsibilities as citizens to defend our freedoms and our rights.

The United States government is currently run by two professions: politicians and bureacrats. Folks in both professions require oversight, by the very nature of their jobs as public servants. The only thing i trust about folks in either of those professions, in fact, is to act out of self-interest. And when they claim to be acting out of something other than obvious self-interest, then they require increased public scrutiny.

The "War in Iraq", as it's come to be called (there is not yet a war in Iraq, unless by that one means the weekly bombing of Iraq's southern "no-fly zone" by American forces that's been ongoing since the 90s) is a perfect example of what i mean:

• Vice President Richard Cheney has very obvious ties to both the energy industry and Iraq.
• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been advocating war in Iraq for longer than he's been in the current Bush administration.
• Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and others in key defense and foreign policy positions in this Bush administration are known to be authors of a report titled Rebuilding America's Defenses, written for the Project for the New American Century, detailing how to "preserve and enhance" the "'American peace'". According to Jay Bookman, the report "directly acknowledges its debt to a still earlier document, drafted in 1992 by the Defense Department" ... that is, by then Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney and defense undersecretary for policy Paul Wolfowitz.

Why should the American people trust what our government is saying, when they are not making their own self-interests evident?

We shouldn't. In fact, we have a responsibility not to trust them, and to object loudly and vociferously.

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