OPEN GOVERNMENT

When I speak of open government, I mean having government that is capable of being understood by the common person. If we allow universal voting, then we cannot possibly expect a truly educated electorate unless they are totally informed as to the inner workings of government. It is not brain surgery.
To that end I have long advocated an open government process. I have long advocated for budget reforms that would mandate that the budget be written in a manner that is capable of being understood by a person with an eighth grade education level. I have long advocated for programs that bring voter awareness of pending legislation. And I have argued for reforming the system to eliminate politics.

I willingly admit that many of these changes have begun to be implemented. There is far greater access to legislation that is pending, although the ability to access information is not as easy as it could be. Further, there is a move afoot to make public spending records available to folks. The real problem is that these efforts are not widely publicized and therefore are largely wasted.

The need for people to be able to immediately consult a budget and know exactly where their public funds are being spent is a no-brainer. Further, the actual pay-outs need to be fully disclosed, along with a purpose for the expenditure.

The fact that government is in budgetary shambles is reflective of a system that minimizes actual public scrutiny. The public, largely unaware of what is actually happening until after the fact, makes it far too easy for shifty politicos to do grave damage to the system.

There has been some progress towards full disclosure of special interests, and there will probably be a bit more concern for conflicts as a result of pending legal actions against various unscrupulous legislators, but this again comes too little, too late.

The fact is that we say that our election system works and yet we look at an electorate that hasn’t a clue. We want to expand voting, but we are not willing to give the full picture to the voter. By creating ignorance in the voting population, we are certainly assured of having much more of the same in the future.

To have a completely accessible and readable budget would be a step in the right direction. To then put it into the education curriculum would be an even better step. To have a readable budget on line would be good. To publicly disperse this information with a public awareness campaign would be fine.

Many of these ideas are bantered about during elections but they rarely come to fruition after the election fades into the collective memory. We need to have these small steps taken before we can logically walk into an election booth as informed citizens. Without it, we are simply reliant upon a clueless electorate to vote in people based on personality instead of performance.

Such behavior is just downright stupid. It allows our leaders to tend to the public’s needs in a manner that is overly paternal. It robs the people of their freedom as well as their tax money.

In the next touch on this topic, I will attempt to further explain what a readable budget would consist of and make it clear why such an effort, albeit costly and time consuming, could actually benefit the operation of the State of Rhode Island.

Also, I will try to consider other options for opening up state government for a wider understanding of its proper role in regulating its people.