Transparency and Conspiracy

Right now, there's a lot of buzz going around about a whole lot of issues with the data being presented over at Recovery.gov, the site that's in place to let We The People know where all that stimulus money is going.

ABC News reported last week that there were some serious accounting errors being found in the job creation numbers. That was followed over the weekend by some adjustments to the numbers. And that's lead to cries of "foul!" from both sides of the floor.

Needless to say, the anti-Obama faction is pointing to this and calling conspiracy. The pro-Obama faction is... well... not doing all that much (comparatively speaking). Democrats and Republicans alike are calling for a closer look at the numbers.

That closer has already turned up some problematic things. Most notably is that a lot of the fictional jobs reported came from fictional congressional districts. Things like this only fuel the conspiracy end of things and get the media machine oozing with vitriolic joy as there's some sort of paranoia to draw people into their stories.

Here's the thing: This is exactly how the process is supposed to work.

I'll bet you dollars to donuts that some of the errors being found are truly accidents--data entry and transfer issues--that, if all of this wasn't being dumped to the public, wouldn't be caught for years. And, if it was, it would be corrected quietly and no one would ever notice how the number of jobs created/saved drops.

Then there's the "business as usual" habit of places getting money from the government (or anyone else) trying to make it look like they performed miracles with that money. It's a sub-set of the "If we don't spend it all, we won't get the same budget next year" mentality that I think causes half of the waste in this country. No matter who's in charge.

Conspiracy rears its head when interested people don't have access to all the facts. It is fueled when more questions are raised than answered.

Transparency attempts to cut through the fog and let everyone see all the way down to the bones of the matter.

Problem here is, the bones are buried deep under lots of thick skin, purposely obfuscated process, and just plain old red tape.

What we're seeing right now is just the tip of the iceberg. We're right to be a little worried about it, but we shouldn't be calling for blood and we most definitely shouldn't be pre-supposing it's a case of the people in charge trying to put one over on us.

At least not yet.

This is just the usual stuff that's been happening behind closed doors for decades (that's right, not just in the previous administration). It's because those doors were closed that it's gotten as bad as it has.

At its best, the press took the initiative to pry those doors open. That doesn't happen half as much as it should any more. Now the 24-hour news cycle is too concerned with keeping people glued to their coverage of scandal, panic, and general fluff that the real investigative reporting that makes The Fourth Estate worthwhile and keeps the rest of the power structure in check (and the public informed) has become a comparative rarity.

The good news is, a lot of organizations have sprung up to keep a watchful eye on the government. (Check out a listing of some over at the Sunshine Week site and the work that OpenTheGovernment.org is doing.) Sites like Recovery.gov make it easier for all of us to do so. And we should. It's our responsibility to watch out for ourselves these days.

There's a big mess to clean up and some of it has been around so long it's become part of the system. It's only with determination and clear heads that we'll be able to clean it up and reinstate some sensibility in our government.