Obama tries cracking down on leaks. Why is the need for government transparency usually ignored today? Granted some need for military secrets (for the sake of argument and to step away from the Times piece), it still seems to me that we don’t pay nearly enough attention to it. My guess is that transparency, even suitably limited, would be a tremendous boon to those of us who seek limited government. Would our governing officials be able to retain their offices if voters were fully aware that we subsidize corporate farmers but cut food aid to poor people? The examples here could be multiplied of course. Some are even military-related: I doubt (perhaps I am naive) that voters would continue to vote for politicians that allow secret military/intelligence operations against rulers of other states. And that would likely be a great help to us and the world.