As you may already know, President Bush today signed into law the bill that keeps the expiring portions of the Voting Rights Act on the books for another 25 years.
But what's been more surprising has been the speed with which the bill moved through the Senate last week. That story illustrates how Congress can do amazing things in an election year.
Thanks to USA Today for reminding us of an anniversary that otherwise would have passed us by unnoticed -- the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is turning 40!
Signed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 4, 1966, FOIA openned up non-classified executive branch records to the public. By doing so:
Congress sought to address "the mushrooming growth of government secrecy" because it believed a "democratic society requires an informed ... electorate, and the intelligence of the electorate varies as the quantity and quality of its information varies."
And it worked. The public, including public interest watchdog groups like Common Cause, has used the Freedom of Information Act to make sure the government is working in the best interests of the people. No catastrophe occurred. The government didn't collasped amid anarchy. The result has simply been a more open and trustworthy government.
Until now.
In 2005, the executive branch made 14.2 million new decisions to classify information as secret. That's nearly double the number of secrets created in 1998. Much of this increase understandably can be attributed to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and increased military and intelligence operations since 9/11. But not all of it.
The Bush Administration has issued executive order after executive order classifying things that heretofore had been available to the public via FOIA requests. Whenever people wonder how illegal wiretapping got to be a big issue, one only has to ask if the true problem doesn't lie with an administration that has closed government's doors to the people instead of openning them.
Read the full op-ed for more details, and let us know what you think on this 40th anniversary of FOIA in our Comments section.
Common Blog
