The quest for government transparency has been a focus of Washington since Obama became President. Well, we all knew that while the thought was a nice one that realistically, it would be impossible to sustain. We citizens want to know more than the government wants us to know. Importantly, it is really not possible to let the public in on the discussions and conversations that we would dearly love to hear. Bad guys and gals are listening too!
On the other hand, the 'translation' of this effort for transparency by federal agencies has been an onslaught of information that most of us cannot assimilate nor make sense of, and thus don't read. Now that could be dangerous when we misunderstand or misinterpret information.
Beyond the challenges of content and understanding, here is my real point about transparency. What was the purpose of being more transparent? I believe it was less for us to know the inner workings of our government but more for us to gain trust in the government's actions. Now two years later, the public's trust of congress is very low. We, the public, did not get the insights we needed to develop the trust. So much for transparency and trust!
Does real transparency lead to trust? Yes, even if the transparent activities are not to my liking. In other words, I will trust you to continue to do what you do the next time even if what you do is not what I care for. Possibly the most important aspect of developing trust is the consistency in which you do something. If I can 'predict' what you will do in a similar circumstance, and you do the same next time, this consistency earns trust. In a word, trustworthiness comes from consistency of actions. Hence, transparency without consistency will not lead to trust! I believe that's where the government's efforts failed them. They were not consistent in communicating the message.
© Baldwin H. Tom CMC
www.tbgroupconsultants.com
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