Hillary’s E-mail Flap: I’m Glad

By Michael S. Rozeff

I’m glad that Hillary Clinton broke the law and used insecure servers for her communications. I’m glad if her servers were hacked and the information found its way into the hands of foreign states like Russia. Spying on state secrets is good: It lets the spies know what the plans and intentions of others really are. It lets them know the character of those foreigners who have the power to threaten them, or make life difficult for them, or war against them. Such information, found out by spying or by other means such as a Secretary of State bypassing safeguards written into federal law, reduces the amount of guesswork and reduces the chances of miscalculations based upon misinformation. The spread of secret communications might even act to restrain the expansion of government power and the government’s foreign interventions. It might be a hidden check that the Framers never mentioned. It might even enhance the quality of media reporting and counter the lapdog syndrome. I am always glad whenever such state information is made public or leaked. That too is good. It allows people more widely and easily to find out what their government officials are actually up to. It would be great if all the figures in government were as careless and sloppy in handling their communications as Hillary has been. Thank you, Ms. Clinton.

If hackers or domestic spies or domestic leakers were to obtain government information that’s secret and release it to the public, then the government would lose a lot of its ability to mislead and fool the public. That would be good. What a boon it would be if we really knew details of all the deals being done, the palms being greased, the laws being written to confer privileges, and the laws being broken by officials. What if we could see in detail how badly the government is run?

Hillary did us a favor. Let’s see more of such computer sloppiness. She also showed us a great deal about her character, but that’s almost beside the point. The e-mail flap as political ammunition is too narrow a perspective. We already know more about this Clinton than we want to, and we certainly have had our fill of her husband. Indeed, many of us will have to be extra careful in the next 4 years to avoid the pain of seeing or hearing her. It will be quite bad enough to be exposed to reports of what her administration is bringing forth.

I’m glad the FBI folded. I wish it were to fold in all such cases so that we could be better informed through hackers. However, the FBI showed favoritism in her case; the upside of that is to show, as if we need more evidence, that the FBI has very serious issues. I’m glad that Bill Clinton met with the Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, in order to influence the case. It’s good to see improprieties flaunted. I’m glad that Lynch subsequently gave her verdict before ever seeing what the FBI had to say; it shows her lack of independence and her dependence. More importantly, it shows that the U.S. Department of Justice is compromised. It’s a political tool. I’m glad that Obama endorsed Hillary, indicating the fix was in. I’m very glad that Hillary’s team has floated Lynch with staying on as Attorney General, a payoff to her. It is salutary to have the elite engage in open malfeasance. But let us understand that this is the norm, not the exception. It is not peculiar to this case. How does government operate if not by party politics, favoritism, deals, quid pro quos, payoffs, and jockeying for power?

The above originally appeared at LewRockwell.com.