The foulest damage to our political life comes not from the 'secrets' which they hide from us, but from the little bits of half-truth and disinformation which they do tell us. These are already pre-digested, and then are sicked up as little gobbits of authorised spew. The columns of defense correspondents in the establishment sheets serve as the spittoons.
Interpretation
The biggest threat to politics comes from the misleading information given to us rather than hidden secrets.
E. P. Thompson highlights the dangers posed by incomplete truths and misinformation that are presented to the public. He argues that the real harm is not merely in the secrets that are kept from the citizens, but in the selective and often twisted information that is shared, which can mislead and manipulate public opinion. This suggests that a lack of transparency and honesty in political communication can be more harmful than outright deception.
In practice
In a political debate about misinformation, this quote could highlight the dangers of manipulated truths.
Democracy must stand or fall on a platform of possible human perfectibility. If human nature cannot be improved by institutions, democracy is at best a more than usually safe form of political organization . . . . But if it is to work better as well as merely longer, it must have some leavening effect on human nature; and the sincere democrat is obliged to assume the power of the leaven. [Progressive]
If there were Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, it makes it certain there would be a reprisal attack against the United States at some point.
Viewed as a means to the end of political freedom, economic arrangements are important because of their effect on the concentration or dispersion of power. The kind of economic organization that provides economic freedom directly, namely, competitive capitalism, also promotes political freedom because it separates economic power from political power and in this way enables the one to offset the other
I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.
There is no excitement anywhere in the world, short of war, to match the excitement of the American presidential campaign.
America wins when the voiceless have a seat at the table, when the vulnerable are protected, and when working families have the same political clout as the wealthy.
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