Where to start? Let the light in, that’s where I’d start. By that I mean that, in a government of “We the people…”, we the people need to know what is going on. Why should the people who represent us have access to information that we don’t have? Why should people doing public work have meetings that are closed to us? Why should information be classified and withheld from us? Why should our government be doing things in secret? How can we make informed judgments when we are uninformed.
One thing that history teaches us is that the people in positions of leadership can be as ignorant and misguided as any of us. We have elected them to do our business, and we should keep a close eye on them as they do it. For those of us who lived through the sorry mess of the Vietnamese war and for all of us who have watched the quagmires and debacles of the variety of military operations since then, does anyone doubt that “ordinary” citizens could have made better choices than many of those that have been made by our political leadership—whatever the party! And how many of those decisions have been made in secret? And how many of those decisions have been justified with lies and deceptions?
Free and public debate about all issues should be at the heart of our representative democracy. Access to information about what our government does should be open to all.
Randy
Randy H-D's Sight 
Excellent observations!
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Because percentage wise few people vote, elected officials don’t necessarily have the same agenda as the people they represent. They know that it is better to represent the population that votes. As such transparency is not something they are interested in.
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Another problem identified, Chris. What are we to do about voter indifference? Should we do anything?
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Like most I am a problem identifier not a problem solver. I do believe it begins in school. I believe there is so much emphasis stem and better preparing students for college/work that civics is just glossed over. I think we as a government could do a better job of getting people to vote. A national holiday would be a start.
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Dear Sir –
May I start by saying how much I enjoy reading your blogs. They are all thought provoking topics. I have always enjoyed open minded discussions that do not become personal or that attempt to force my opinion to align with another’s.
While I agree generally with your premise that our government should be completely transparent, one possible exception comes to mind. Rhetorically, should we the public
be given sensitive military intelligence that could cause our country serious harm if it were to fall into the hands of an enemy ?? Further, there are many decisions that I should not be involved in simply because I lack expertise in the subject matter. The decision making process cannot, and in many cases should not, always be democratic.
DaveR
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