With about ten thousand new secrets a day, I think we far underestimate how much our government keeps from us. I totally agree with Thompson that having so much secrecy in a democracy is not necessarily the best choice. I see the point of operating in secrecy but I don't like it. Even if it is the Clinton's doing good, I don't think it can be justified. I think this issue of secrecy touches home to the University of Minnesota. This morning I will be eating breakfast with President Bruininks, whom just a couple of weeks ago, closed the graduate school with no consultation or prior notice under a veil of complete secrecy. I think it is naive to think that just because a president or bureaucrat is working on something good, that makes it okay.
If we promote secrecy in out political system, we are just reinforcing that we don't want to know what the real implications of that policy really is going to be. I raise the comment that, "Our government doesn't work." Well when there is so much secrecy you don't know what is working and what is not. If we had a more transparent government I think our accountability would be higher as well as confidence in our democracy. I am warmed by Obama saying that his administration will go the extra step to open up their inner-doings. Let us hope he keeps that promise...
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I think you make some really good points Adam, especially when you bring up the talk we had about a functional government. As you said we cannot see the benefits of a policy that happens in secret and therefore the good parts of our government. We only have the knowledge that there are secrets and that makes us distrustful of our government.
ReplyDeleteAs you said with Obama going the extra mile to lift the veil is something that made him attractive to you and many other people as a candidate. But I think it seems to be the sign of a broken system when honesty is something to be campaigned on, not expected of people.
I definitely agree with many of the things you're talking about here Adam. I think it's a real problem that so many things are kept from the American people. Like we said in class, some of these things may be insignificant secrets like where the President had breakfast, but I'm willing to bet that even a small portion of those, let's say 5%, were large secrets that 'need' to be confidential from the public is still much too many. It is ridiculous to place the responsibility of accountability in the hands of the people who are going to be held accountable (if that makes sense) Like, if I rob a bank and they tell me to create my own punishment, I'm not going to do anything! Why would I place mysef in jail if I don't have to? That's why these things need to be made public (unless they truly endanger someone. Some of these secrets could be the identity of people under the witness protection program) as soon as possible so we can see what the government is up to.
ReplyDeleteDitto on the Obama thing.