All available evidence suggests that the lack of tranparent government encourages graft and corruption, while preventing the public from active participation in government. As reported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, President George W. Bush's policies greatly increased government secrecy while deceasing government accountability. To hide evidence of this corruption, President Bush issued an Executive Order limiting public access to Presidential records.
Control of our government was effectively given to wealthy, politically powerful special interests when President Bush appointed hundreds of lobbyists and lawyers (known to represent these special interests) to "key" positions in every federal agency. These so-called "Bush-o-crats," who have few abilities other than being able to lobby, have been been allowed to move from appointed positions to civil service positions, where they can continue to best serve the special interests they truly represent. In reality, the Bush-o-crats operate as covert agents-of-influence (AOIs), and they operate in secret to promote self-serving actions. When President-elect Barack Obama assumes office, he must create a transparent government to once again establish a government that will serve the best public interest.
A number of organizations, such as OMB Watch, Sunlight Foundation, The Constitution Project, and many others, have carefully studied our lack of transparency problem. Their collective suggestions to improve government transparency, along with my own suggestions, are as follows:
1) Take appropriate legal action to remove the Bush-o-crats, and other lobbyists, from positions in government. If this cannot be fully accomplished, these people and their actions must be under a constant "spotlight."
2) End the "double-speak" and "twisting" that has been used to hide truth from the American public. Increase the number and depth of press conferences to explain the plans, intentions, and actions of government.
3) Create an online "tracking" system so the public can easily follow efforts and specific actions by those government officials who engage in earmarks, pork barrel spending, bribes, collusion, or other activities harmful to the public.
4) Provide another online means of "tracking" all types of government applications for grants, contracts, or other types of support. If no-bid contracts are awarded, for any reason, an automatic investigation and evaluation of relevant facts should take place by the GAO (General Accounting Office) and/or U.S. Dept. of Justice.
5) Establish incentives for the types of reform needed to create government transparency, and provide positive examples of openness in all government activities.
6) When rules, regulations, policies, and/or programs are created, all citizens with a potential interest must be invited to comment as well as being given the option to participate in all deliberations. Post the efforts and the results on the Internet.
7) Work to assure open, fair, and free elections, while finding creative ways to keep special interest money from influencing the results of elections.
8) Require all the primary government officials to disclose all assets and investments as well as affiliations, and make this information availble on the Internet along with their resumes.
9) Establish and enforce high ethical standards, while making all but classified meetings open to the public by means of direct access as well as the Internet.
10) Assure free and open communications between scientists, and end the government practice of altering scientific reports and documents. Let the truth be known.
11) End all torture of prisoners, and revise the Patriot Act to restore our basic human rights.
12) Eliminate unnecessary classification instructions and classifications, so only valid State Secrets are withheld from the public for confirmed reasons of national security.
13) Create an independent ombudsman to help citizens gain access to government information, and reduce the numbers of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) exemptions. Provide a means of Internet access for all citizens.
14) Provide more protection for "whistleblowers," and make government contractors more accountable.
15) Establish online access to all activities in the U.S. Congress. Issue Internet alerts, by name, for each member of Congress receiving any type of contribution, gift, or favor that might be a possible attempt to influence a vote on any legislation.
16) Facilitate a much greater disclosure of government practices, policies, programs, and information.
17) Respect the rule of law, and take legal action to punish those who violate the law.
18) Do not exempt career civil service employees from full scrutiny.
19) End all of the covert "pork" typical of the U.S. Dept. of Defense (DOD); e.g. the annual purchase of $1 to 3 billion in military parts that are then sold as "scap," when received.
20) Annual publication of the total amount expended for intelligence and/or covert action operations. (There can be no valid requirement to identify projects for reasons of national security.)
21) More complete and accurate reporting on the results, and lessons learned, from U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere. (These reports may be presented in a form not harmful to national security interests.)
I could continue to add to my list of actions needed to create a transparent government, but you get an idea of how big this one problem is. Yes, Obama's admistration will have a host of other problems related to our economy, financial system, health, education, job creation, government corruption, global warming, environmental pollution, infrastructure repair, successfully ending our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and so on. However, effective solutions to all these other problems will require government transparency at a level sufficient to allow effective public participation in finding the solutions. When you look at the long list of recent government failures, highlighted by an economic collapse, it is clear that a lack of transparent government has been the primary cause. There are a number of new studies that seek to document the simple fact that a government without public participation and support is doomed to failure. This is a basic rule that President George W. Bush should have known, but did not. All we can do now is help President-elect Barack Obama find the solutions needed when he becomes President on 20 January 2009.