Do you support keeping the books closed or open the books governance?

[blm]

I'm with Robert Parry - OPEN THE BOOKS and deal with real history, the people need the facts to be an informed citizenry.

Where do you come down?


http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/051006.html

>>>>>>>>>
So for Clinton, learning the truth about controversial deals between the Reagan-Bush crowd and the autocratic governments of Iraq and Iran just wasn’t on the White House radar screen. Clinton also wanted to grant President George H.W. Bush a gracious exit.

“I wanted the country to be more united, not more divided,” Clinton explained in his 2004 memoir, My Life. “President Bush had given decades of service to our country, and I thought we should allow him to retire in peace, leaving the (Iran-Contra) matter between him and his conscience.”

Unexpected Results

Clinton’s generosity to George H.W. Bush and the Republicans, of course, didn’t turn out as he had hoped. Instead of bipartisanship and reciprocity, he was confronted with eight years of unrelenting GOP hostility, attacks on both his programs and his personal reputation.

Later, as tensions grew in the Middle East, the American people and even U.S. policymakers were flying partially blind, denied anything close to the full truth about the history of clandestine relationships between the Reagan-Bush team and hostile nations in the Middle East.

Clinton’s failure to expose that real history also led indirectly to the restoration of Bush Family control of the White House in 2001. Despite George W. Bush’s inexperience as a national leader, he drew support from many Americans who remembered his father’s presidency fondly.

If the full story of George H.W. Bush’s role in secret deals with Iraq and Iran had ever been made public, the Bush Family’s reputation would have been damaged to such a degree that George W. Bush’s candidacy would not have been conceivable.

Not only did Clinton inadvertently clear the way for the Bush restoration, but the Right’s political ascendancy wiped away much of the Clinton legacy, including a balanced federal budget and progress on income inequality. A poorly informed American public also was easily misled on what to do about U.S. relations with Iraq and Iran.

In retrospect, Clinton’s tolerance of Reagan-Bush cover-ups was a lose-lose-lose – the public was denied information it needed to understand dangerous complexities in the Middle East, George W. Bush built his presidential ambitions on the nation’s fuzzy memories of his dad, and Republicans got to enact a conservative agenda.

Clinton’s approach also reflected a lack of appreciation for the importance of truth in a democratic Republic. If the American people are expected to do their part in making sure democracy works, they need to be given at least a chance of being an informed electorate.
>>>>>>>>

[wtmusic]

1. For Junior, the problem starts with an "informed citizenry" nt

[guidod]

14. OPEN all th books!

[muntrv]

2. OPEN!!!

[Missy M]

3. Open the books for democracy.....

the citizens of this country should expect nothing less.

[blm]

8. Yet, even so many Democrats and even DUers will not side with Open Govt.

This thread is an eye opener - as if people are afraid to answer because they don't know who would be left standing if they make a choice.

Parry's words must be hitting home.

[Nite Owl]

4. Absolutely

open the books.
We the people need to know all that has happened in our names, if we ever intend to get rid of these forces of evil it can't just be pinned on this administration. If we do that they will still have their infrastructure in place to wind it all up another day, it will never really be over until everything is exposed and justice meted.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Open books ..... but ......

.... there is a legitimate need for some secrecy. Security and intelligence.

The cabal has taken the same stance .... but to an absurd level.

[blm]

7. Some, certainly, but, nowhere near as much as they claim, though.

Parry lays it out very well how information PROTECTS us when it is shared.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. we agree completely

[blm]

17. See Warren Stupidty post - reasonable limits is the way to go.

I'm just glad to spread Parry's article - it really goes to the core of what the anti-corruption wing of the Democratic party has been speaking to all these years.

[Warren Stupidity]

6. 10 year limit on secret classifications.

One 5 year extension subject to approval from a FISA-like court, and the grounds for approval have to be ongoing related activities.

We have no idea what our government has done in our name for the last 60 years or so.

We desperately need a crackup as profound as the collapse of the soviet union, to open up our 'KGB files' for all the world to see.

[blm]

9. That would be a good call, but it still requires leaders of integrity from

both sides.

[Warren Stupidity]

12. Oh for sure. And until we have a monumental breakdown

it simply isn't going to happen.

[blm]

13. Last time I looked, we broke down aleady. ;)))

It's just been a long time for the rest of the country to catch up to where we were at many years ago. Katrina forced people to confront the truth about Bush the same way 9-11 forced them to realize terrorism was global.

[Vidar]

11. Excellent ide.

[treestar]

15. ITA. Government of the people, not over the people

The Sheeple have let it become a Big Daddy who protects them from knowledge for their own good.

[blm]

16. OF the people, BY the people, FOR the people, accountable TO the people.

Way past time to make that a reality.

[blm]

18. Interesting experiment - Seems many DUers DO want the books kept closed.

Guess they worry about how their favorite Democrats might turn up to be more complicit than they want to know.

Ignorance is bliss and it seems to work for Republicans.

[BeFree]

19. It's a disease, no doubt

A dis-ease which has all but killed this American experiment.

There being but a few things the public does not immediately need to know, government should be otherwise totally open. There are only bad reasons to keep secrets from the governed.

Looks as if Clinton really screwed up. Really bad. He allowed the culture of corruption to have a second life which is now killing democracy.

I don't think Kerry, or Gore, would have followed Clinton's disregard for the public's right to know. Of course, since they both had their election's stolen, history has been altered allowing the curse new growth.