- “When Is A Leak Ethical”? asked an article in The Conversation in June of 2017. It appears there is a positive aspect for leaking information. “Research has found that people are willing to blow the whistle when they believe that their organization has engaged in “corrupt and illegal conduct.” They may also speak up to prevent larger threats to cherished values, such as democracy and the rule of law. Law professor Kathleen Clark uses the phrase “public interest disclosures” to refer to such leaks. In certain instances leaking and whistleblowing has been found to protect the First Amendment. However, leaking large amounts of information, even if the goal is to reveal government corruption or atrocities can do more harm than good. The potential for compromising national security increases when larger amounts of information are released all at once ( The Conversation, 2017).
The Republicans have become masters of deflection for three reasons; 1) they are constantly cheating, 2) they are constantly lying, and 3) their policies are racist, pro-rich, and anti-democracy.
Trump also tried and is still trying to cheat his way back into office by lying about the 2020 election being stolen by rampant fraud. He tried to cheat his way back into office by filing over 65 bogus court cases claiming election fraud. He collaborated with Republican surrogates who were attempting to steal and tamper with voting machines to cheat Biden out winning the presidency. He supported the idea of replacing electors who voted for Biden with fake electors who would vote for him. If Republicans stay loyal to a cheater that means they support cheating. Being in power now defines the totality of what the Republican party stands for. Senator Mitch McConnell has admitted this by declaring, “there will be no discussions of policy until after the mid-terms.
Mitch McConnell’s arrogant admission that Republicans will not reveal the policies they will pursue if they regain the majority in Congress should scare both Republicans and Democrats. McConnell defies transparency because he is a power-hungry, corrupt politician. He doesn’t believe the Republican electorate has the right to know what their leaders standard for, or worse yet, he knows if they knew they wouldn’t vote Republican. His strategy has been to keep Republican politicians quiet about the cruel and crazy MAGA movement ideologies, to support Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, and to avoid discussing policies that address issues such as healthcare, racial inequality, abortion, and poverty. Republican voters better start insisting their representatives stop avoiding their responsibility to admit what they stand for and stop relying solely on the complete demonization of what their opponents stand for. McConnell is angry about the leak of Justice Alito’s draft about Roe v Wade because of the potential damage to his party. He didn’t seem as upset when leaks occurred during Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
As long as the corruption of the Republican party continues to spread and threaten our democracy, we can only hope leakers and whistleblowers will continue to try to protect our democracy from the corrupt Republicans and their silent enablers.
