We seem to have a lot of them these days. Just read the papers or watch the news. No, I’m not talking about all those tireless journalists working their fingers to the bone, breaking bombshell, after expose, after blockbuster about the crazed, pathetic or frightening antics of our sitting president.
There are so many of them at work right now, and the competition among them is so fierce, that if Woodward and Bernstein were still at it today (instead of just being the avuncular personages they play on TV) they’d most likely be lost in the shuffle. No, frankly, in my book, all these super-busy reporters are just doing their jobs. And since this is a time when those jobs bring enormous excitement, reward, recognition and even adulation, one might argue that performing their work is actually easier than it is in more pedestrian times.
I’m also not talking about all those never-at-lost-for-words commentators with the supposed cohunes to call the Orange Guy in the White House a no-nothing fool, an idiot and a child. (Oh, and by the way, please, please stop calling the Leader of the Free World a child. That’s way too deeply demeaning to the concept of childhood. At the very least, be sure to add something more specific, like “selfish” or “spoiled-rotten.”) No, for my money, heroic behavior is not to be found behind the opinion desk or on expert panels either.
So who are my real heroes in the multitude of jaw-dropping news stories raining down on us daily? I’d argue for all those quiet, unassuming ones, those devious milk-toast types, those lurkers in the shadows at the military and intelligence agencies, high-powered law firms and financial outfits and, most important of all, the brave ones operating with stealth in the paranoid confines of the White House itself. Yes, of course I’m talking about the Leakers.
It’s all those courageous ones so vilified and threatened by the blind and craven defenders of the Orangutan in the Oval who are finally giving us a real shot at learning what’s truly going on. For all their trouble they live in fear and uncertainty and face the very real possibility of prison time and the outlaw’s disgrace.
So why willingly risk a loss of career and personal freedom? Certainly not for money or fame. If all goes well for them, no one is likely to ever know their name or the dimensions of their exploits.
Then why do they do it? That’s the easy one. Because the future of the Republic is at stake, and the only thing that can save it is what they give us: the Truth.
