It’s the 4th of July today, so let’s think about this in terms of patriotism. Freedom of information about government activities is nothing less than the freedom of the American people to participate in the democracy that was first promised to them 231 years ago.
Yet, a recent study of how the government complies with its legal obligations to inform the public of its activities finds widespread denial of service. It is not unusual for requests of public documents made according to the standards of the Freedom of Information Act to be fulfilled only ten years after they have been made. Some requests for information made two decades ago have yet to be answered.
The government calls these refusals to comply with the Freedom of Information act mere delays, but freedom of information delayed is freedom of information denied. If our government has the power to wage wars halfway around the world, then it has the power to answer citizen requests for information promptly, as the law requires.
This refusal of the government to respond to citizen requests for information is downright unpatriotic. In a monarchy, the subjects of a king can expect not to know what their government is doing. The Revolution of 1776 was supposed to end that sort of unaccountable rule. Yet, here we are almost two and a half centuries later, still struggling to get our government to acknowledge our right to know what our government is doing in our names.
The problem cannot be blamed solely on George W. Bush and the Republicans. After all, Freedom of Information Act requests made ten years ago predate the Bush Administration. The administration of Bill Clinton seems to have been as much to blame as the adminstration of George W. Bush is now.
The issue of government refusals to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. It is an issue of the American people, and their frustrated desire to keep their government accountable and truly democratic. It isn’t enough just to get the Republicans out of the White House. In 2008, we need to pick a true progressive for President, someone who will open the files of the government again, for the people to see, as the law requires.
(Source: Associated Press, July 2, 2007)
