So, I've started doing a weekly radio segment on WDIS-am Business Talk Radio. WDIS broadcasts throughout the north-east US, from Rhode Island to Maine, including Boston, MA. My show is called "The Political Outsider" and is streamed online every Tuesday starting at 1:38 Pacific time, at least that's when they call me. Sometimes it starts a little later.
UPDATE: audio
Anyway, here's the transcript to my intro for my first show. I'll post the audio of the entire show when it becomes available.
Hi. I’m Gina Cooper, the Political Outsider. Today I want to talk about Open Government.
On his first day in office, President Obama signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. The basic idea behind the memo is that government can be made more transparent, participatory, collaborative and innovative by using technology to make data more available and processes more open. In this way, Washington can be changed because regular people, voters, will have the information they need, themselves, to hold government officials accountable.
Currently the 140 year-old Department of Justice is working on their Open Government program, and they’ve asked for help from the public. You can contribute your ideas on how to make the Department of Justice more open
by going to the Agency’s website, at www.justice.gov, and clicking on the banner in the upper right hand corner that says “Share Your Ideas.” You will then be transferred to an outside website, off the Government’s servers, where you can read and submit your own contributions.
Recently I visited the website and was very encouraged by what I saw. People were doing what they were asked. They were submitting ideas, and there were some good ones.
The first suggestion was from Jane Kleb who wrote, “I would like to see a breakdown state-by-state of any violations our state government has made with links to responses by the [Department of Justice] and state agencies.”
What a great idea! A website where, state by state, violations of federal law are listed, and what is being done about it is reported. What a great way to see our government dollars at work
as well as being made aware of issues affecting us close to home.
The theme of seeing government do its job through the availability of information was common. A participant who went by the name, thejenniekim, suggested that the Department “Publish Attorney General Holder’s schedule online,” while LittleSun asked for the creation of “a forum in which Attorney General Holder must hear and honestly answer our questions.” Another talked about “webcasting all meetings”
while others noted that public data should be available in a searchable and downloadable format.
Those are all good ideas. But not everyone was interested in talking about how the Department of Justice could share data and communicate better with the public. Many people had complaints about how the Agency, itself, was carrying out its mission.
“I believe that the holding of prisoners without charge or trial violates every tenet of law that the department of justice is designed to uphold,” charged one poster.
Another “helpfully” suggested, “Personally, I think the [Department of Justice] should offer a citizen's lottery that provides the average "man on the street" the same kind of "Get Out Of Jail Free Card" that our politicians seem to regularly possess.”
And
“Prosecute Illegal Thought Reading and Unwarranted Surveillance of American Citizens Living in U.S. I have been used 24/7 by this government for 16 years.”
Their cries didn’t go unnoticed. They were promptly tagged “off topic” and moved onto the “off topic page” - one click away from the main comment page -
and in the comments the moderator left a friendly note, dripping with all the warmth you would from a bureaucracy formed in the 1870’s:
“Ideas and commentary unrelated to the Open Government Initiative may be submitted to the Department of Justice directly.
Please see [our contact form] for information on methods for contacting the Department regarding other matters.
Thank you.”
In other words, “if you would like to register complaints,
I regret to inform you
that you are standing in the wrong line.”
This, of course, elicited howls of protest, accusations of censoring, and not so gentle reminders that we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill for the website.
But not everyone thought the moderator’s move was out of line. Noted Sam: “I'm tired of ideologues hijacking the discussions. We know you want marijuana legalized.”
There are several lessons to be taken from this exchange.
The first one goes out to me and my fellow open government enthusiasts. The internet will not transform government bureaucracy overnight, as much as we would like for it. Yes, it could, but it won’t. When dealing with an institution in its second century of existence, expect things to move slowly.
Two:
There are a lot of people eager to share their ideas, and some of those ideas are pretty good.
Three:
Many people don’t trust our democratic institutions. On one end of the distrust spectrum, people questioned the motives of the moderators in this public dialog. At the other end, there was down right paranoia.
And finally,
People are frustrated, not only with the behavior of government, but often, with the behavior of their fellow citizens when it comes to discussing important issues.
The Justice Department’s Open Government Initiative is still taking citizen input through March 19. Again, if you would like to participate in the discussion, go to the Justice Department’s website at www.justice.gov and click on the banner in the upper right hand corner that says “share your ideas.”
I'm Gina Cooper, the Political Outsider. You can check out my work at middlecoastllc.com and my thoughts as a citizen turned strategist at ginacooper.com.
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