Independent Voter Platform -- Open Government

Open and Accountable Government

by Ron Corvus

We The People demand and expect open and accountable government. Recently there has been virtually NO ACCOUNTABILITY WHATSOEVER despite the greatest government security failure in the history of the United States, 9/11. Even the American Bar Association has called for the impeachment of George W. Bush, publishing a list of his flood of felonies. There are too many "secrets" our government is holding from us. Our Congress spends our money in secret and there is no legitimate excuse for it. These "black budgets" and "hidden earmarks" have been bloodsucking our budget for a long, long time now. It's high time We The People put a STOP to this unAmerican, undemocratic practice. Both the Democratic and Republican parties are guilty of these practices.

Democratic Party politicians promised to end the bi-partisan tradition of hidden earmarks, promising to publish discretionary spending requests online. Naturally, they broke their promise to publish earmarks online for the purpose of notifying Americans of their Congressman's intent to spend, and on what, so their constituents could voice their opposition or approval of such earmarks. Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd "explained" that the reason publishing earmarks is a bad idea is because everyone would know what their Congressman is going to spend money on and it would create a torrent of earmark requests from his or her constituents. The arrogance is stifling, isn't it? Guess what the Democrats did about their promise to publish earmarks online? They published them online alright - AFTER the bill has been passed! This defeats the ENTIRE PURPOSE of publishing earmarks online, so constituents could voice their opposition to said earmarks.

Campaign Finance and Election Reform

Open and accountable government requires severe campaign finance and election reform.