Government Secrecy - How much do we really need?

What is an appropriate amount of government secrecy?

  • No Secrecy - Every dollar reported and all information is accessible

  • Little secrecy - few monetary details and few bits of info are secret

  • Moderate level - less then current levels but more then above

  • Current Levels are fine

  • More Secrecy - Our government needs to keep more secrets

Results are only viewable after voting.
Makalakumu

Makalakumu

Gonzo Karate Apocalypse
MT Mentor
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
13,887
Reaction score
232
Location
Hawaii
Vote in the Poll above and tell us how much secrecy the US government really needs.
 
Sorry, the poll took longer to post...here it is!
 
Of those options... I choose "none of the above". I think that all money should be reported, but not all information. Information about peoples' private lives, or information which impairs their professional functioning or puts their lives at risk, should be kept confidential; in addition, information that affects national security should be kept confidential. The problem is, of course, determining what exactly constitutes "private", "impairment", "risk", and, of course, "affects national security". Much that should probably be revealed is not; some that should not be revealed is. In today's information-rich world, this is an increasingly difficult determination... and that brings us back to money, because reporting on some monetary transactions will impact the above, which brings us full circle - and is the government's primary reason for not revealing financial information.
 
I would say that hardly anything in our government should be secret. The only exceptions would be bits of information that would put people's lives in danger like troop movements or things like that...and those shouldn't remain secret for long.

The bottom line is this...the more government secrecy, the less public oversight.

Which pretty much directly translates into, the more government secrecy, the less democracy can actually work.
 
elder999 said:
With all due respect,there are, quite simply, things you don't need to know....and do not want to.
Click to expand...

I would beg to differ...

The stuff that I think that you are referring too is something that I think that everyone should know about. If people are paying money for it, then they should know what they are getting.

I wonder what would happen if people actually realized how much of their money they were pouring into the end of the world?
 
elder999 said:
is not the stuff I'm referring to.
Click to expand...

Right. That stuff. So, if its not something that is really important, or is really boring, then why is it secret?

And then there is the stuff that would really blow peoples' minds...
 
upnorthkyosa said:
Right. That stuff. So, if its not something that is really important, or is really boring, then why is it secret?

And then there is the stuff that would really blow peoples' minds...
Click to expand...


It is really important, and sometimes, but not always, really boring stuff that would really blow peoples' minds..:uhohh: :lol:
 
As long as we keep our plans for invading Canada secret, we'll be good.
 
Poll is (unintentionally?) biased. Including a choice for "Moderate level" and "Current level" implies that current levels are immoderate. Not arguing, just pointing out that there can be disagreement on that point.

How much secrecy in government? As much as in poker, at least. ;)
 
CoryKS said:
Poll is (unintentionally?) biased. Including a choice for "Moderate level" and "Current level" implies that current levels are immoderate. Not arguing, just pointing out that there can be disagreement on that point.

How much secrecy in government? As much as in poker, at least. ;)
Click to expand...

THIS PERSON IS A FED! :shooter:
 
What blows my mind is there are a lot of things that are "classified" to some level that are actually well known or seen on Cspan, it is just when you take two pieces of information and put them together that suddenly wht you know becomes classified...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

1984, Anyone?

Previous Thread

Banned Book Week

Next Thread

Latest Discussions

Back
Top