secrecy is only fear in another guise

It's simple really:
secrecy = fear
Whether it's an individual keeping a secret from another individual or a government keeping secrets from its citizens, secrecy always seems to be based in fear, in the negative. Even when a secret is kept in the name of security or to keep someone from being hurt - what is the underlying reason for that decision to withhold that information?

I would argue that it is fear; fear of how others might react to knowing the same information you know. In other words - not trusting those you are keeping the secret from. When a government keeps so many secrets from its citizens - what does that say about how the government views its citizens - it doesn't trust them. And in my view - that is the first step towards the death of democracy - which absolutely requires all citizens to be fully informed about what the government is doing in its name.

End result: sad to say - and I will probably get flamed for this statement: the US is no longer a true representative democracy (and not just because of the way-too-secretive actions of the Bush administration - although that doesn't help). In many ways today, we seem to instead have some kind of military-corporate-imperialist oligarchy that has mastered the art of appearing as a democracy. Political power, media manipulation and bullying, the ability to carve up constituencies to suit those in power, and the near blatent control of the two-party system by corporate and other large financial interests has rendered the notion of democracy "of and for the people" rather meaningless at this point.

The solution? I don't have any easy solution - but I think if more people took more time and effort to get real facts, get as much un-biased information as is possible in the information jungle of bias that exists out there, and only support and vote for those who speak the truth, we would be a lot better off. I know - I'm speaking of some utopian dream here, but realty often begins with a dream, doesn't it...