4.18.2005

More Primer

Information freedom:

The only way a democracy can function is by the educated vote of the populace.

Wait, the US is not a democracy. Not at all. Some local and state laws and initiatives are voted in a democratic way, but the United States of America is a constitutional republic.

Let's say that again. Constitutional Republic. Sounds more serious doesn't it? It is. The constitution is the foundation of our nation. All our institutions should spring from it. The military is subject to the constitution before all else, including the commander in chief. We all are. The buck stops there.

Our voice in our republic is our vote. We vote for people to do the thinking for us on issue of law creation and enforcement. These representatives do the dirty work of governing that we don't have time to do.

So, making the determination on who can do this job the best is our role in the society. The only way to perform this duty is to have accurate and plentiful information about the candidates and their views, positions, and character. Currently, I believe that there is bountiful information about the candidates and their actions in and out of office. What we are lacking is the accurate information. The culpable major media outlets are good at passing along spin and waging theatric war firmly within the narrow bounds of the two major party platforms. Few and far between are accurate and attemptingly unbiased analyses of the current and former actions of those in power and their cohorts.

What I am calling for is simply, the courage to call a duck a duck if it is in fact a duck. One need not include the "I swear it's a chicken" commentary of of the opposing party (which is often not the opposition) only to make a pretense of fairness. John Stewart was clear on this point on crossfire. One should point out that there is less and less of a need for big media, as the smaller media break most of the important stories anyhow.

In order for the media (big or small) to make an accurate determination of a candidate, information about them and their methodologies must be made public. The public own all of that information regardless. Every memo, every email, every visitor log in every office of our federal government should be public. Transparency of government is the only weapon we have against corruption, negligence and abuses of power. FOIA denials should be punished by jail time. Worse punishment should be had on those who would obscure and hold information which is already viewed to be necessarily public.

There is only one reason for secrecy: your actions would be received poorly upon review. That is exactly what needs to be removed from our public offices. Now, this mostly talks about the day to day information that is not subject to national security (if that phrase doesn't curdle your blood, it should). It is true that there is a line to be drawn in the sand and Jane Q. Public probably shouldn't have access to every NSA security briefing. Still, information and copyright law and classification is a major abuse of the federal government on the governed.

Classification is a blanket that catches the %99 of the innocuous with the %1 of the semi-perilous. Not only is the government unable to use it's own technology, requiring much of it to be redeveloped, this technology is not allowed to those who paid for it. That is wrong. The solution to this problem is that the burden of classification should be on those who wish to hold it. The reclassification or classification renewal process must be involved and time limits must be applied. In addition, all moneys spent must be accountable to our elected officials. Especially those funding the most secret projects. There must be oversight at some level.

Copyright law is more simply a cripple to innovation and development of society. Anyone who says you can't have access to an idea, is hurting you and your nation and is not to be trusted. It is too close to thought policing. 1984 still holds pertinent warnings.

The information is ours and we must demand access.

CPR

And for those of you who think that a democratic system necessarily shields people (and protects itself) from the abuses of those in power, think again.

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