5 ms·

I struggle to see how giving congress more secret authority would do anything but cause more problems. Maybe the only benefit of this would be to put the empha

by toolz 4y ago

I struggle to see how giving congress more secret authority would do anything but cause more problems. Maybe the only benefit of this would be to put the emphasis (imho) correctly back on being diligent in electing congress members, but outside of that anything done by the government in secret, is not likely to be done for the people, but rather solely to benefit those with the power to act in secret. The incentives for congress members to act outside of their own selfish interests just doesn't exist in secret.

cheschire 4y ago
However, the incentives for congress members to act outside of their party's selfish interests doesn't exist out in the open.
jimkleiber 4y ago
I'm wondering if more closed committees and more secrecy (not full secrecy) would incentivize different people to run for Congress. For example, how many people who are very good at thinking deeply and negotiating and deliberating want to run for Congress now where almost every single decision is scrutinized and often broadcasted on TV? I sure hesitate to run because of how much micro-managing occurs, constantly looking over the shoulder to see if someone is doing their job. So I wonder if the current transparency initiatives inspire the ones who like to be in front of the cameras, constantly campaigning, more than those who like work together to govern.
- toolz 4y ago
  if you don't value the affected peoples scrutiny I'm not sure you should be in the position to begin with. How can anyone act as the will of the people without the people knowing what they're doing?
  - jimkleiber 4y ago
    To me that's like saying how can someone be a good developer without letting the customers sit in on every meeting they have and watch the developer code in real-time. I believe a person can talk with constituents, maybe even 90% of the time, and learn as much from those conversations and then take that info into closed door discussions and negotiate on behalf of those people. And I think Congress would do a lot better collectively if we cared more about the team performance and less about the individual performance.
Symmetry 4y ago
In practice Congress was much more effective when things were more secret and currently it's much more effective on topics that don't get much media attention. https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-rise-and-importance-of-secret?s=r https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-rise-and-importance-of-secr...

by toolz 4y ago

cheschire 4y ago

However, the incentives for congress members to act outside of their party's selfish interests doesn't exist out in the open.

jimkleiber 4y ago

I'm wondering if more closed committees and more secrecy (not full secrecy) would incentivize different people to run for Congress. For example, how many people who are very good at thinking deeply and negotiating and deliberating want to run for Congress now where almost every single decision is scrutinized and often broadcasted on TV? I sure hesitate to run because of how much micro-managing occurs, constantly looking over the shoulder to see if someone is doing their job. So I wonder if the current transparency initiatives inspire the ones who like to be in front of the cameras, constantly campaigning, more than those who like work together to govern.

toolz 4y ago
if you don't value the affected peoples scrutiny I'm not sure you should be in the position to begin with. How can anyone act as the will of the people without the people knowing what they're doing?
- jimkleiber 4y ago
  To me that's like saying how can someone be a good developer without letting the customers sit in on every meeting they have and watch the developer code in real-time. I believe a person can talk with constituents, maybe even 90% of the time, and learn as much from those conversations and then take that info into closed door discussions and negotiate on behalf of those people. And I think Congress would do a lot better collectively if we cared more about the team performance and less about the individual performance.

Symmetry 4y ago

In practice Congress was much more effective when things were more secret and currently it's much more effective on topics that don't get much media attention. https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-rise-and-importance-of-secret?s=r https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-rise-and-importance-of-secr...