wikileaks ii

There are worse things one can do than cut off a server; for example, cut off a head. That seems to be where other WikiLeaks critics are headed. Sarah Palin said that Assange should be hunted down like Osama bin Laden; Newt Gingrich said that he should be treated as an enemy combatant; and Bill Kristol wants the Obama Administration to think about kidnapping or killing Assange “and his collaborators.” (Kristol doesn’t use the word “kill,” but rather “whack” and “neutralize,” as if some combination of slang and clinical talk made everything all right.)

I though that the right-wing of American politics since January 2009 was all about the rediscovery of America's anti-imperialist heritage. I thought the right wanted a government that was limited in scope. Instead, there are strong attacks against wikileaks from the right. Maybe the basic goal of the right, the desire to advance yourself and to punish people who are not like you, is simply too strong (this is often better than the alternative of approving equally of everything, but that is another issue).