Transparency in Gov't

Another great find in the NY Times... thanks NY!

The Dangerous Comfort of Secrecy

Basically it's about how the Bush administration (and just the gov't in general) is going nuts with the secrecy thing...

Yes, some secrecy is needed... but what Bush (and he's not the only one) seems to not understand is that Democracy is way more than just voting for your leaders.

The singular strength of democracy comes from transparency of government. Without knowing the workings of the government, the voter is no longer able to make informed decisions. Put simply, a voter has to know when to vote out a politician. It's not a lifetime appointment, and it doesn't operate on trust.

A lot of people don't understand why so many academics are pissed at this administration... and it's mainly because of this. For a democracy to work correctly, it can't operate behind a curtain.
I don't want sensitive information released to the public, obviously in my last post I was against the idea of officials revealing that a person worked as a covert oprative for the CIA. There are certain instances when secrecy is needed and justified. But there is a too far, and it's an easy line to cross. And crossing it as we're doing now is very dangerous for the future of our liberties and the efficient and effective operation of our goverment.

For me, it shows someone's (ok, Bush's) inability to do the job they're in when they don't know the difference between justified secrecy and over-the-top cover-up type shit.