Ethics

Political Prenups: A Very, Very Bad Idea

By Ed Brayton

For the last 8 years, the left has quite correctly criticized the Bush administration for the near-fetish they have made of secrecy and lack of transparency in government. The record is appalling: Investigations have been stonewalled, millions of emails have mysteriously -- and conveniently -- disappeared, White House entry logs have been declared classified and off limits to the media, frivolous assertions of privilege have attempted to shield the administration from any scrutiny.

So zealous was the administration to avoid any accountability to anyone even while exercising their most intrusive power that they have even refused to ask a court that operates in secrecy for warrants, as federal law and the constitution demands, before spying on American citizens. The left has, quite rightly, been highly critical of such secrecy, arguing that it undermines public accountability and the right of citizens to know what is being done in their name.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on December 11, 2008 (boomark / email).