Transparency should be directly proportionate to power
Western liberal democracy is when corporations and bankers place all blame on the government, the government places all blame on the electorate, and the electorate absorbs all the consequences of the corporations, bankers and government without ever even getting a vote on any of the major decisions those entities make.
Ordinary citizens are assigned full responsibility for their social and financial struggles and their privacy rights are being eaten away. Powerful people are never held accountable for their immensely destructive decisions and they are protected by a wall of government secrecy.
Accountability and transparency should have a directly proportional relationship with power: the more power you have the more consequences you face for your actions, and the less privacy you’re entitled to. In our society it’s literally the exact opposite. It’s completely backwards. —Caitlin Johnstone, The mainstream worldview is self-evidently bullshit
- previously: power exists only so long as we consent
- see also: this total lack of transparency and consequences is major institutional betrayal — prioritizing any organization or ideology above the well-being of its people