Saturday, November 24, 2007

Dear Big Brother: You can know more about me if I can know more about you

I can understand why government wants more information about its citizens. What I don't understand is why government is keeping secrets about how it operates.

Government today seems to be turning democracy on its head.

What's the big problem with the federal Freedom of Information Act, and the California Public Records Act?

Why expand government power and secrecy at the same time? If government gets its legitimacy from the public, but doesn't let the public know what it's up to, then it's not legitimate.

When the public asks how much public entities pay their lawyers, there's really no legitimate reason for not telling us.

We must assume that the lawyers paid by us are actually serving a different master.

Who is that master? Elected officials? Public employees? Liability insurance companies? The lawyers themselves?

Or all of the above?

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