Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the solution to all the worlds problems, are transparency and accountability. I offer that every problem faced by mankind today is of our own making. The only reason for hunger are regulations, grift and war. Tyranny, well, that’s obviously of our own making. Why is there mass migration? Because of poor governance. We have solved all the major diseases of mankind, so USAID spent forty million dollars to create some new ones. If there’s a shortage of housing you can bet rent control and regulation are behind it. A lack of career opportunities in a formerly industrialized nation is because of intentional deindustrialization. Any problem you can think of is man made. Created by elites in governments. Which can then be solved by transparency and accountability.
Government is sold to us as the solution, but in reality its the problem, or at least the source of the problems. Many people honestly believe government has a valid role to play in helping people improve their lives… despite all the evidence to the contrary. Instead of elevating people out of poverty, welfare traps people for generations. Even the most virtuous and well meaning government program will, sooner or later, be exploited by bad actors. Distributed blame means no bureaucrat is ever held accountable for the failures of the bureaucracy. Meanwhile, the more government supposedly does, the bigger the ATM it becomes to politically favored cronies. Moreover, the war on drugs, war on poverty and war on terror have all been absolute utter and complete failures. Normalizing failure.
Transparency is the start of accountability. Unless we see the crimes the bureaucrats are committing we can’t charge them. Moreover, normal people are unwilling to commit crime in the light of day in a crowded place. Because they know they’ll be seen, identified and charged. No criminal wants that. It increases overhead to the point where crime doesn’t pay. So transparency is the way we start to add accountability to the elite. The first thing that needs to happen is to make transparency the default. Anything that needs to be hidden should be granted by a judge beforehand. In a confrontational court. Not a rubber stamp like the US courts have become. If everything every government worker does, is put on the internet in real time, nothing will go unnoticed.
Accountability is the cornerstone of all occupations. Imagine an engineer who’s planes exploded, buildings collapsed or cradles folded into baby killing machines? Would such an engineer be allowed to continue drawing such deadly prints? What about a manufacturer who was producing dangerous and defective products? How about a doctor who never had a patient recover under his care? We would never allow such failures from any professional… except a government expert. They can be wrong all the time. Leading to death, disaster and catastrophe. Yet the more wrong they are, the more power we give them. Because there’s no accountability in bureaucracy. Although, if a bureaucrat puts a paperclip in the wrong corner denoting two copies instead of one, she will be punished.
If we agree that government is indeed the source of our problems today, then controlling government would solve them. The way to do that is with transparency and accountability. Transparency so we can see what’s going on, and accountability so the failures, fraud and scandals of officials can be punished. Providing incentive not to violate our Constitution, our interests or their own laws. Those who thrive in the dark are the likeness of mold, and do the same thing, eat prosperity. Turning the useful into the useless. Doing nothing hasn’t worked, so why not try something? Contact Congress, senators, judges, the press and anyone who will listen… then demand transparency and accountability in government. DOGE is cutting the ditch, let’s build the road to a better world.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
