The present trend toward Government secrecy could end in a dictatorship. The more information there is made available, the greater will be the nation’s security.
I, for one, will remain constantly vigilant of a government that admits its transgressions of liberty only when they are caught lying.
The only way we are held accountable is if people know what government is doing.
In a democracy, citizens pass judgment on their government, and if they are kept in the dark about what their government is doing, they cannot be in a position to make well-grounded decisions.
As a conservative who believes in limited government, I believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press.
See that the government does not acquire too much power. Keep a check on your rulers.
Democracy is when the people keep a government in check.
Bind down our politicians with the chains of our Constitution.
Who is to guard the guards themselves? Quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?
Privacy is tremendously important. I believe the American people, and all people, should be skeptical of government power, should ask hard questions: What is the authority? What is the oversight? That's the way it ought to be.
Holding our own government to account for the use of its power is, in my view, the highest mission of a U.S. news organization.
A decent and manly examination of the acts of Government should be not only tolerated but encouraged.
Without the ability to talk about government power, there's no way for citizens to make sure this power isn't being misused.
The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created
Our public officials have forgotten that they are ultimately accountable to the people who put them in office, that the information they keep in secrecy belongs to all of us.
All public officials, including the secretary of state, must be held accountable.
The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should therefore be hushed. A sentiment more unworthy of a free country should hardly be propagated. If the doctrine be admitted, rulers have only to declare war and they are screened at once from scrutiny.
In times of crisis, we are made to feel we should scrutinise our government's actions less closely, when surely that's when we should pay closest attention.
We have to make the bureaucracy accountable to the people. It is not something esoteric, it can be done.
We can’t trust government to limit its powers to the Constitution.
If we advert to the nature of republican government, we shall find that the censorial power is in the people over the government, and not in the government over the people.
It's my father's legacy. My father's view was that the public is the employer of these government employees and has the right to know what they're up to.
You can't give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad - in fact, to do anything it wants.
Public agencies should be criticized.
That all history shows the necessity, in order to the preservation of liberty, of every subjects having a watchful eye on the conduct of Kings, Ministers, and Parliament.
