Can you keep a secret?

[Orsorum]

As a politician, rather. What is the appropriate level of information that should/could be kept hidden from the public? As citizens in a democratic republic, is it not our right to have access to all the information that is not deemed top secret?

 

[Ldir]

Yes. Always. For the people. By the people. Of the people. It is our government. We own it.

 

[Orsorum]

Do we?

 

[povertystruck]

Who would enforce our right to that information? The police(who are paid by the government)?


You have the right to do what you are told, and know what you hear.

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: povertystruck
Who would enforce our right to that information? The police(who are paid by the government)?

You have the right to do what you are told, and know what you hear.

The courts are supposed to enforce it, and have done so in the past.

 

[LunarRay]

We hire agents to look see all that information. They be the Congress. They are vetted by FBI and are beyond reproach... they are honest and are the keepers of our secrets. We pay them well as does the folks who wish to formulate our policies and laws..
We are not to be trusted beyond paying for these agents to mind our store.

 

[Moonbeam]

Why should we not know who killed Kennedy?

Why should we not know what Cheney and Enron said?

There are far fewer secrets than embarrassing truths.

 

[Insane3D]

Here's my concern. Say you have a piece of information. The government says it is "vital to national security" or something, so it must be classified. Now, that is understandable because there is information that needs to be kept secret for various reasons. However, once they say it needs to be classified, who checks that it really needs to be classified? Who is to say they just don't want it out, but it really has nothing at all to do with NS or otherwise? It just seems like there should be some sort of check and balance there, rather than to just say ok...they say it should be secret, so it should be. You know?

 

[Bleep]

I saw a guy on tv the other night talking about secrets. He said that women could not keep secrets and gave a bunch of examples and then said but they can hold a fart, so if you want to tell a woman a secret you know which end to tell it to.

Bleep

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Here's my concern. Say you have a piece of information. The government says it is "vital to national security" or something, so it must be classified. Now, that is understandable because there is information that needs to be kept secret for various reasons. However, once they say it needs to be classified, who checks that it really needs to be classified? Who is to say they just don't want it out, but it really has nothing at all to do with NS or otherwise? It just seems like there should be some sort of check and balance there, rather than to just say ok...they say it should be secret, so it should be. You know?

Have a senate oversight committee, perhaps? Or do they already have one?