Posner on Behalf of Whistle-Blowers

Given the firmness of Posner’s views opposing the idea of “privacy” – a concept that he imagines to be useful only to those seeking to hide illegal, immoral, or other embarrassing conduct – can we expect him to publicly support Chelsea Manning’s, Ed Snowden’s, Julian Assange’s, and Glenn Greenwald’s efforts to expose the hidden record of U.S. government officials and agencies? If individuals have no expectation of privacy – derived from a deeper understanding of the concept of private property – on what basis might the state insist upon not having its behavior exposed? Given that the conduct of the state is far more destructive than that of individuals [e.g., the capacity to start wars, assassinate people, etc. vs. the video-taped sexual practices, or distasteful phone calls] would the state’s claim to not having its publicly-damaging corruptions revealed? It’s nice that Boobus Americanus is finally provided open admissions of the self-serving nature of all political action.

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10:42 am on December 11, 2014