4 ms·
If government in a democracy can only hold those powers the people have ceded, why are they allowed to withhold material information from the people? Sunshine i
by dsplittgerber 17y ago
If government in a democracy can only hold those powers the people have ceded, why are they allowed to withhold material information from the people? Sunshine is surely the best disinfectant.
- jonknee 17y agoIt would be dangerous for governments to have no secrets. I'm perfectly fine not knowing where our nuclear subs are or the specs of Air Force One. The issue is deciding what's classified and having whistleblowers are a good way to keep a balance (governments won't feel like they can get away with something just because it's classified) without risking tons of lives.
- invisible 17y agoI think it could be claimed that a PAST action often should not be classified unless it directly affects an ongoing directly related incident. If it needs to be classified, then maybe the US population as a whole would not have agreed with the action (and rightfully so). I think it does stoop to a low I feel we (as the US) should not venture down. Are individuals not able to make judgment calls based on evidence compiled?
- jonknee 17y agohttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/us/politics/30secrets.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/us/politics/30secrets.html "President Obama declared on Tuesday that “no information may remain classified indefinitely” as part of a sweeping overhaul of the executive branch’s system for protecting classified national security information." It's getting closer to that goal.
- ubernostrum 17y agoI will respect you more if you'll start a perfectly transparent democracy which makes every piece of information public, and then see how well that works in a war.
- blasdel 17y agoForget war, what about painting the bikeshed?
- ErrantX 17y agoI'd happily discuss my thoughts r.e. this (I have a few) but HN is probably not the place for involved political discussion.