Americans feel alienated from government. They are cynical and antagonistic. Most don’t vote and many that do, believe elections are rigged or stolen. Politicians say one thing when home and vote differently when away.
Most “representatives” are political prostitutes, trafficked by big business, big money and special interests. They sold their soul. Someone has something on them and is extorting their vote.
It is an attention-grabber to see the original script of the U.S. Constitution. The starting phrase “We the People” is in a massive font compared with the remainder of the document. These three words are screaming at the reader that this document is about people, not the government!
Tragically, to properly reflect reality today it should read “We the Politicians” in exaggerated font.
The Founding Fathers did not favor an obese liberty-crushing government. Instead, they sought knowledgeable local citizens active in local civic affairs. They opposed paying professional politicians or hirelings.
Today, Americans’ only hope is to get control of the counties in which they live. Other than voting, they can run for office and personally confront their local representatives at board meetings. Sadly, surveys show that politicians regretted seeing Covid’s prohibition on lawful open meetings end. That is a bad sign.
Open meeting laws are relatively new. They ensure the public’s right to access the internal workings of government at all levels. However, this “right” cannot be traced back to America’s common law tradition with England or to the founding of the thirteen colonies.
Until the mid-1800s, the English Parliament was closed to the public, and attempts to publish its debates in the press were punishable offenses. In America, the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention were conducted in secret.
Although neither the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights requires public access to government meetings, the principle is compatible with the concepts of popular sovereignty and an informed citizenry. The freedoms of speech, the press, and the right to petition the government in the First Amendment all presuppose a “right to access.” To criticize or support a government policy effectively, citizens must be informed of the reasons for that policy.
The Open Public Meetings Act, popularly known as the “Sunshine Law,” was passed on October 21, 1975, and became effective on January 19, 1976. The Sunshine Law was enacted in response to growing public cynicism about politics and distrust of government in the wake of the Vietnam War and Watergate. The intent of the Sunshine Law was to have government meetings conducted in the open, to the greatest extent possible, consistent with the public interest and without invading individual privacy (ex. closed sessions for personnel issues).
Californian’s right to open public meetings is based on the Bagley-Keene Act and the Brown Act. People can generally always be present and speak to their representatives according to this legislation.
Unfortunately, in spite of the law, elected officials and bureaucrats do their best to hinder the public’s access to hear and respond to government decision-making. Boards of Supervisors in Yuba-Sutter Counties advertise open meetings but at times of the day impossible for most citizens to attend (Yuba – 9am / Sutter - 3pm and Yuba Water Agency 9am.)
This devious scheduling caters to the elected, the union employees, and shuns the citizens, thus nullifying the spirit of the people’s open meeting laws. Another equally insidious maneuver is to schedule agenda items of high public concern to the end of the meetings forcing attendees to wait hours to speak to the issue. Before the hot topic is addressed by the board most citizens who took time off work and scheduled others to care for loved ones etc. are forced to leave.
This transparent government hypocrisy is worsened by the obnoxious and cumbersome Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) rules, bureaucracy, and slow-walking response to public requests for information.
The “government of the people, by the people and for the people” (from President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address) is but empty words today. The current government is no longer “We the People” and is not reformable. We must start anew.
(Lou Binninger can be heard on No Hostages Radio podcast, live on KMYC 1410AM 10-1 Saturdays, read at Live with Lou on Facebook and at Nohostagesradio.com)
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