Lee Dembart Quotes
Democracy is based on the idea that the people rule and that the best decisions are made in public view.
Lee Dembart, Science Journalist, "The Scam in the Sky," The Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1992
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Declaration of Humanity. Printed in Japanese Newspapers. Contrast this with the previous Japanese political leadership tradition as {43746}
For many people the implication of this quotation is that there should be no government secrets withheld from the citizens who have the right to examine. Others argue that government may have temporary secrets to protect against foreign enemies for example, but that these must be declassified very promptly so that the citizens can examine the actions of their government in time to replace the government if they are not satisfied. Almost all government officials tend to reject the first implication out of hand, and grudgingly accept the second with their discretion controlling when declassification should take place. The problem of America is twofold. There is much over-classification (material kept secret that should not be at all), and the time till declassification is long in general and truly absurd in many cases. For example, there are documents from WWII that by 2013 had still not been declassified. See {591444}, {641317}, and {589105} for exemplar views. William Jennings Bryan introduced this principle into the American political dialogue. See {641027}.
The Bush presidency was the most secret presidency in history up to its time with less information available to the public than other administrations in modern times.
Coolidge had no involvement in politics after his Presidency. He was never consulted by his successor and never resented that fact.