Whistleblowers deflate bloated bureaucracies

There are those who think Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning have betrayed trust, and there are those who think they exposed excessive and misguided government actions.

Although an organization depends on all involved following certain rules, what should an honorable person do when he or she feels that the organization is working against the public interest?  Will reporting the problem up through the hierarchy eventually solve it?  Or will somebody block it?

In more mundane terms, think of all the problems you have had with products and services.  If you report them to the company or organization, do you really believe that you will find a champion who will right what you think is wrong?  If you think that the reported wrong will be righted, take a peek at support boards of products.  There are some problems that have been going on for years and haven't been fixed yet.

For a better look at this problem in far worse situations than inefficient software, see "The Banality of Systemic Evil", Peter Ludlow, New York Times, 2013-09-15.

A bureaucracy develops own set of rules to function "smoothly".  Think of the bureaucracy of the Titanic.  From the president of White Star Lines to Captain Edward Smith down to deck hands.  Each person had a certain set of responsibilities, but almost none of them had all the information they really needed.  Were they ready to listen to any warning advice?  Was anybody willing to report upward anything that was amiss for a safe voyage?

Did anybody make a big fuss about forward observers not having adequate lights?  Did anybody question the command "women and children only" in the partly full lifeboats?  Did anyone question the locked doors trapping steerage passengers?

Patriotism is the ultimate "bureaucracy".  Not enough of us question why we are using military force.  It is considered unpatriotic to question the government in times of war.  Amazingly, many "patriots" don't think the government can run a post office or devise regulations to protect the public.  But few of them consider that "snafu" is a military term started by the troops.  See "Military Slang", Wikipedia.

Some have said true patriots are those who resist supporting military action.  I'll leave it to you to decide whether Snowden and Manning are patriots or scoundrels.

GOP, Make up your mind: Is Government too big or not?

Many in the Republican Party constantly complain that government is too big and inefficient.  On the other hand they want to make the military bigger and bigger, they want increased surveillance of just about anybody, and they want to keep far too many state secrets.

Please make up your mind.  Are we going to have a government that is responsive to people and not corporations?  Or are we going to have a secret government that is responsive to large corporations and ignores the people?

Actions speak louder than words, and news story after news story indicates that corporations and secrecy are more important than open government and people.

State security without proof

"I assert, he said with a calm and low voice, I assert that Mr. Colomban has responsibility for an act that has put our country within two fingers of its loss. The case of Pyrot is secret and must remain secret. If disclosed, the most cruel wars, pillage, devastation, fires, massacres evils, epidemics, will be brought immediately on Penguinia.  I would consider myself guilty of high treason if I uttered one word more." - General Greatauk, "L'Île des Pingouins", Anatole France, 1908, my translation with help from Google Translate

Colomban is Emile Zola who strongly defended Dreyfuss (Pyrot) in the press.  For more on the Dreyfuss affair, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_affair.

Does this sound familiar a century after the Dreyfuss affair?  At that time there was extreme anti-semitism.  Are we now in a time of extreme anti-muslim paranoia?

The original French:

Je laisse, dit-il avec calme et d'une voix peu élevée, je laisse à monsieur Colomban la responsabilité d'un acte qui a mis notre pays à deux doigts de sa perte. L'affaire Pyrot est secrète; elle doit rester secrète. Si elle était divulguée, les maux les plus cruels, guerres, pillages, ravages, incendies, massacres, épidémies, fondraient immédiatement sur la Pingouinie. Je m'estimerais coupable de haute trahison si je prononçais un mot de plus.
- EBook #8524, Project Gutenberg