Not everyone agrees on this one, which is one of the fundamental problems. I'd agree with "was created to protect rights" and I'd hope for "should exist to protect rights", but...
Anyway, that's a side point. I, too, believe that the government must respect the rights it (ought to) defends, both for citizens and residents and also for guests (voluntary or otherwise) in US-controlled territories (e.g. Guantanamo). Transparency is the hallmark of democracy, and is the thing that makes it more resilient to corruption than other forms of government; the trend in my lifetime has been toward less and less transparency.
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Date: 2007-08-07 02:26 pm (UTC)Not everyone agrees on this one, which is one of the fundamental problems. I'd agree with "was created to protect rights" and I'd hope for "should exist to protect rights", but...
Anyway, that's a side point. I, too, believe that the government must respect the rights it (ought to) defends, both for citizens and residents and also for guests (voluntary or otherwise) in US-controlled territories (e.g. Guantanamo). Transparency is the hallmark of democracy, and is the thing that makes it more resilient to corruption than other forms of government; the trend in my lifetime has been toward less and less transparency.