FOIA Turns Forty Tomorrow

Here are two news items to check out for Fourth of July reading:

In The Washington Post today, former President Jimmy Carter writes that the Freedom of Information Act will be forty years old tomorrow. He laments, however, that tomorrow will not be a day of celebration for the right to information in our country because our government has "become increasingly obsessed with secrecy." President Carter calls on the United States government to implement changes to FOIA to make information more freely available to all of us. As he states at the end of the article, "We cannot take freedom of information for granted. Our democracy depends upon it."

Today's New York Times has an article entitled "Push For Government Openness on Right and Left" about proposed federal legislation sponsored by Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, and Senator Barack Obama, Senator of Illinois. The bill would create a large public database of government contracts and grants that would be searchable over the web.
According to the article, some conservatives are supporting the legislation because they believe that the more the public learns about federal spending, the less it will want. The bottom line, however, is that both Republicans and Democrats see the benefit in openness in government. The article quotes Senator Coburn: "Sunshine's the best thing we've got to control waste, fraud and abuse," he said. "It's also the best thing we've got to control stupidity. It'll be a force for the government we need."

Wow! President Jimmy Carter and the likes of Senator Tom Coburn both calling for greater openness in our government. There is hope after all. Happy Fourth of July!