OPEN SOURCE IT ALL:

If Britain's great flaw is the class system, America's might be its obsession with classifying official information. There's a reason "that's classified, sir" is a stock phrase in so many Hollywood films. Americans tend to revere elite secrecy in the same way British snobs worship aristocracy. You can own lots of land in America and still be a hick. If you've gotten hold of sensitive state files, however -- well, son, you've made it.

This fetish for high-bureaucratic privilege might explain why Donald Trump took so many classified papers to his billionaire's lair in Mar-a-Lago, much as a pirate might squirrel away treasure in a trove. Trump's favorite film is Citizen Kane and no doubt his acquisitive mind thrilled at the thought of possessing certain noir secrets which the plebs can't afford to know. Rosebud!

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