Incompetence

Digby and Josh Marshall both emphasize the point Gore made in his speech about the relationship between power, secrecy, and incompetence. From TPM:

The point Gore makes in his speech that I think is most key is the connection between authoritarianism, official secrecy and incompetence.

The president's critics are always accusing him of law-breaking or unconstitutional acts and then also berating the incompetence of his governance. And it's often treated as, well ... he's power-hungry and incompetent to boot! Imagine that! The point though is that they are directly connected. Authoritarianism and secrecy breed incompetence; the two feed on each other. It's a vicious cycle. Governments with authoritarian tendencies point to what is in fact their own incompetence as the rationale for giving them yet more power. Katrina was a good example of this.

The basic structure of our Republic really is in danger from a president who militantly insists that he is above the law.

Digby says "The illegal wiretap scandal is a perfect example of this --- authoritarianism, official secrecy and incompetence. (No wonder they call it "the president's program.") When you add in endemic corruption, you have a recipe for a constitutional crisis and a political tyranny --- which is exactly what they have been cooking up."

Like Gore said, (getting the hint?): "And indeed, whenever power is unchecked and unaccountable it almost inevitably leads to gross mistakes and abuses. That is part of human nature. In the absence of rigorous accountability, incompetence flourishes. Dishonesty is encouraged and rewarded. It is human nature -- whether for Republicans or Democrats or people of any set of views."

Get it? Secrecy breeds incompetence and deceit. I accept that some things in government must be secret. But they should be as few as possible, and they must be rigorously policed. And because secrecy breeds incompetence and deceit, we should never trust that the people working in secret knew what they were doing, had our best interests at heart, were doing their jobs well, or are now telling anything like the truth about their role in the secret thing.