Transparency And Transparency Of Government

This case study will assess the government of Florida, a state government. It will touch on several important issues such as providing a general overview of how the government functions and what resources it provides, as well as some current issues the State of Florida is facing in government administration. Because the State of Florida is a state government, it tends to “resemble the national government in composition and organization of their executive branch agencies” (Milakovich, 2013, p. 21).

General Purpose: To inform the audience with enough evidence that an Invisible Government (also known as Deep State or Shadow Government) does exist today.

Since the inception of the United States of America 250 years ago, our government has enacted a practice of lies and deceit that keep its citizens in the dark. Matters such as false allegations that result in long standing wars, financial misuse and abuse, secret alliances that serve the government agenda's, and the altering of history affect not only the US citizens, it affects the global population as a whole. This deception has resulted in mistrust of the US Government as people question what our government is up to and what they are seeking to gain. In order to earn the public's trust, the United States Government needs to be transparent with its citizens, giving us the information whether it's positive or negative instead of allowing

With the seemingly exponential propagation of inexpensive digital communications technologies over recent years, the general public is becoming more aware of the issues surrounding information privacy and government surveillance in the digital age. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a smart-phone has to be wary of how they use their private information for fear of that information being collected and used in a way contrary to their wishes. "Leaky" smartphone apps that transmit private information across the internet can be unethically used by government agencies. The issue of privacy is a balancing act; the public usually wants increased privacy and the government usually wants increased access.

Public Finance is the role of government in the economy. Transparency and accountability in government financial management is crucial. The reading, “Understanding New York City’s Budget” references that due to government spending of taxpayer money to operate various services, several checks and balances such as Audits, City Council Oversight, Mayor’s Management Report (MMR), and Program Evaluation were put in place for accountability. The adherence to policy, procedures, rules, regulations and laws are important when compliance and integrity is the goal.

Nothing is flawless, and this is especially true of governments, which are simply collections of flawed individuals attempting to serve, or in some cases control, a larger group of flawed individuals. Despite this, a large portion of the population accepts the government’s procedures and regulations without a second thought. Dr. Brian Farrell’s lecture titled “Wrongful Convictions,” an article about false confessions by Douglas Starr titled “The Interview,” and even the events surrounding Prohibition are just some examples of a government that may provide order, but is far from perfect. RULES AND PROCEDURES ARE NOT ALWAYS BENEFICIAL AND CAN EVEN LEAD TO UNDESIRABLE CONSEQUENCES.

In defense, America has worked to right the aforesaid wrongs in order build a better nation. This is the positive direction that we have historically gone in, but more can be done. Governmental dishonesty is a problem that has notably occurred in the last few decades. Watergate, the Iran-Contra Affair, "No new taxes" empty promises, Clinton’s Lewinski Affair, and some of the faulty evidence used to justify the 2003 Iraq War, should set off an alarm in the American people convincing them that something needs to be done in order to curb governmental dishonesty. But how can we require officials to be honest with the people when there is a right to free speech provided by the first amendment? We can establish a constitutional amendment requiring that all elected and appointed governmental officials, and those running for an elected office, are intellectually honest to the best of their ability in their arguments when addressing the

The uncertain and ominous climate during the Cold War led Americans to allow their government to take measures of secrecy and deception that would infringe on their freedoms. The great threat felt during the Cold War was thought to have justified extremely deceptive measures on the part of the government. Halperin and Woods expand on the culture of secrecy that developed during the Cold War, and its pervasive effects: “There are intelligence agencies whose very existence is secret, whose charters and budgets are secret, and whose activities include secret paramilitary operations abroad. And millions of government documents on critical policy matters are needlessly classified, preventing essential information on foreign policy from reaching the public domain, even though disclosure would cause no appreciable harm to the national security”(Halperin 2). This disconnect between the government and the governed is only made worse by the perpetuation of secrecy in

Privacy is defined by Dictionary.com as “freedom from damaging publicity, public scrutiny, secret surveillance, or unauthorized disclosure of one’s personal data or information”. This is something that most people value extremely highly. From everyday civilians to government officials, everybody wants some level of privacy. Many say surveillance technology denies them the right to privacy that they are given at birth as American citizens. However, there should be a small amount of wiggle room when it comes to this technology, in order to protect the country and its people. In “Visible Man: Ethics in a World without Secrets”, Peter Singer gives us an insight into privacy in the government. He discusses the

The blatant evils of an all controlling government are spelled out by George Orwell in his novel, 1984, in an effort to push his agenda against totalitarianism. Orwell offers a look into a future governed by dictators. He points out the exaggeratingly blind faith people have in following the convention, turning them into sheep to be easily preyed on by a power hungry government. So long it will please Big Brother, the ruling government in the plot, the public welcomes around the clock surveillance of their every action and thought, extreme rationing for an unproved war, absolute restrictions on all relationships, a forced nationalism and the most minimal quality of life. George Orwell challenges this by presenting and dispelling

While very little research has been undertaken into the value and function of government communication (Simmons and Small, 2012; Pandey and Garnett, 2006), at the local government level it is accepted that communication supports the “mandatory functions that support accountability and participation in democracy (Lee, 2012 cited in Simmons and Small, 2012 p.9). As such, it is through the information outputs of government, namely the transparent disclosure of public interest, official information, that they meet their democratic obligations. However, the mere handling of official information gives the information holder inherent power and it is where the conflict between openness and secrecy arise. For instance, is government-held official information transmitted to the public in a timely and transparent manner? Or, is this information withheld in whole or in part because it might embarrass government or lead to questions over the proper

According to an analysis released in August, 2005, by OpenTheGovernment.org, more and more government information is becoming less and less publicly available. OpenTheGovernment.org is an unprecedented coalition of journalists, consumer and government groups, environmentalists, labor and others united out of a concern for what U.S. News and World Report called a "shroud of secrecy" descending over our local, state and federal governments (Gordon 35). This organization focuses on making the federal government a more open place to make us safer and strengthen the public trust in the government. In its Secrecy Report Card, OpenTheGovernment found that the government spent $7.2 billion last year creating 15.6 million new classified documents and securing accumulated secrets – more than it has for the past decade (1).

TThe DoE FY 2016 Budget shows evidence of transparency because citizens voice their opinion on different issues that matter to them. By citizen engaging in the budget process it helps in the decision-making. The DoE budget information is accessible, organized, and the material is in a language that citizens have little difficulty in interpreting. Updates to the budget are timely, accurate, and complete. A citizen has the right to make all officials held accountable for their actions. Also, a citizen job is to make sure that their representative abide by the law, and upheld the law at all cost. Therefore, an official is practicing the Code of Ethics in the decision making process. In addition, officials in public, private, and voluntary

The main principle behind freedom of information legislation is that people have a right to know about the activities of public authorities.

Admittedly, it is important to have an effective government for the growth and development of a nation. Equally, it is important to maintain a democratic government. While there are different ways of understanding what constitutes a democratic government, in public administration, democratic government can be viewed as a government that is responsive to the perspectives of its citizens and exhibit responsibility to the citizens. This can be promoted by the public institutions and public administrators (King, Feltey, & Susel, 1998). They can use various processes to ensure a democratic government including collaborative governance, decision making, citizen participation, administrative reforms, and budgeting. This paper seeks to discuss and analyze the efforts that the public organizations and the public administrators can make with regards to collaborative governance, citizen participation, and decision making to maintain a democratic government.