WH Releases Open Government Directive: Transparency (Plus) Engagement (Equals) More Democracy

Granted... we will probably not find anything new... but you never know.

If there really is something they want to hide... all they have to do is have that secret taken over by the private sector and classify it as a trade secret.

One good thing... the information should be easier to get a hold of...

Source: HuffPo

The White House this morning released a long-awaited Open Government Directive that follows up on the President's promise - memorialized on his first full day of office - to usher in a new era of transparent, participatory governance. The Directive, issued over the signature of OMB Director Peter Orszag, explains: "Transparency promotes accountability by providing the public with information about what the Government is doing. Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise so that their government can make policies with the benefit of information that is widely dispersed in society. Collaboration improves the effectiveness of Government by encouraging partnerships and cooperation within the Federal Government, across levels of government, and between the Government and private institutions."

Some examples:

Agencies get 45 days to "identify and publish online in an open format at least three high-value data sets. "

Agencies get 60 days to "create an Open Government Webpage . . . to serve as the gateway for agency activities related to the Open Government Directive and shall maintain and update that webpage in a timely fashion."

Agencies have 45 days to "designate a high-level senior official to be accountable for the quality and objectivity of, and internal controls over" publicly disseminated Federal spending information.

Each agency has 120 days to "develop and publish on its Open Government Webpage an Open Government Plan that will describe how it will improve transparency and integrate public participation and collaboration into its activities."

I'm going to have to side with you here , If anything new is found out its not going to be ground breaking. I doubt any real good will come of it.

Opening Moves

Even if it doesn't turn out to be groundbreaking, it's still a move in the right direction.

Here's hoping the Obama Administration is successful in following through on this pledge.

reply to post by Majic


Actually it seems like a way to allay concerns that the government is untrustworthy, because a new government organization said so

Well, if "Transparency (plus) Engagement (Equals) More Democracy, then any Officer in our government who condones or supports more Democracy is Acting in Breech Of Oath Under Office...Because that Oath of Office lawfully binds them to obey the Constitution & "more Democracy" violates Article 4, Section 4 of the Constitution.

Article IV, Section 4:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

I bolded the applicable text. As ruled by Common Law, Republican, in this context, means a "representative" form of government under the Constitution.

Whoa! But didn't our "representatives" in Congress already vote in opposition to an overwhelming Public Mandate to not pass that Bailout Bill? Is this how they "represent" us? This even fails the "democracy test" when that's supposed to be "rule by public opinion."

More criminality from the government? Why not fire them from their jobs instead of believing what they tell us, when it's all lies & cover-ups?

After all, Obama is already using the "national security" pretext to keep the soldiers who practiced torture in those prison camps from being indicted for their crimes...All he had to do was "classify" the evidence to keep it out of court. No one is above the Law & it's far past time our "Officers" in government learn that.


[edit on 10-12-2009 by MidnightDStroyer]