Julian Assange case marks the end of critical journalism

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made known the immoral, illegal and unconstitutional actions of the U.S. government so that we now know that it is lying to the people On a grand scale. For this he should be heralded as a watchdog for accountable government, not denounced as a “commie who hates America,” says leading political economist Dr. Paul Craig Robert. When the government abuses its powers, it becomes the enemy of its people. History is filled with horrifying examples of how nations fell into tyranny when delusional elites were able to remove the constraints on government authority to their own personal benefit. Civilizations fall if this type of abuse persists.

In the great history of the West, the right to free speech and investigative journalism has been a cornerstone precisely because it allowed the posing of critical questions to those in power. The aim was to check whether they did their job in accordance with laws and regulations. The United States Constitution actively restrains state authority, insisting on the separation of powers to guard against abuse, separating power into independent branches of government: the legislative, the executive and the judicial branch. In a democracy, all three have to be independent from each other, steadily kept in check, so that the interests of the nation state and its citizens remain forefront.