by Lucy Kuchma ‘18

In the midst of the bruising 2016 presidential campaign in which accusations were flung by both sides about a rigged process, private email servers, missing tax records, and conflicts of interest, Americans are left wondering more than ever the extent to which politicians and government officials operate in secrecy. This world without transparency has been revealed in large part by the site WikiLeaks, a privately funded database designed to publish censored material involving government affairs including war, espionage, and government misconduct.

The site’s founder, Julian Assange, was nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to establish a truer sense of government transparency and allow for the public to be knowledgeable about the affairs of the world’s representatives and leaders, thus seeking to diminish corruption as a whole.

Over time, this sense of mistrust has grown to where 80 percent of Americans feel that their government is withholding important and relevant information from them, according to a 2015 NPR survey. In recent months, an enormous buzz centered around the release of DNC emails from Hillary Clinton’s private email server. WikiLeaks released emails this August revealing that the DNC was working to combat Senator Bernie Sanders’ popularity in order to allow Clinton to take the Democratic nomination for president.

If what the release of these documents did was prove to Americans the lack of impact that their vote actually has in a corrupted system, then what could possibly be wrong with exposing them? WikiLeaks does not have the power to lie. Documents are simply collected, analyzed, and published. And if the pure exposure of information is what makes or breaks people’s opinions on who they think is fit to be president of the United States, then it is valuable and necessary to release the activities of politicians and their subordinates.

There are always going to be people who are content living in ignorant bliss when it comes to the affairs of our country’s politicians. However, all WikiLeaks is doing is allowing the documents to be accessed for those who do strive to become more knowledgeable.

Wikileaks thus far has been successful in resisting attempts to censor or suppress its activities. The site’s tenacity moves society in the direction of transparency, and ultimately trust, between the government and the governed.