{
    "href": "/post/2013/06/11/we-should-know-much-about-public-servants-they-should-know-little-about-private-citizens/",
    "relId": "2013/06/11/we-should-know-much-about-public-servants-they-should-know-little-about-private-citizens",
    "title": "We should know much about *public* servants; they should know little about *private* citizens.",
    "author": "pmjones",
    "markup": "html",
    "tags": [
        {
            "href": "/tag/civil-rights/",
            "relId": "civil-rights",
            "title": "Civil Rights",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
        },
        {
            "href": "/tag/collapse/",
            "relId": "collapse",
            "title": "Collapse",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
        },
        {
            "href": "/tag/government/",
            "relId": "government",
            "title": "Government",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
        },
        {
            "href": "/tag/police-state/",
            "relId": "police-state",
            "title": "Police State",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
            "updated": [],
            "markup": "markdown"
        },
        {
            "href": "/tag/serfdom/",
            "relId": "serfdom",
            "title": "Serfdom",
            "author": null,
            "created": null,
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            "markup": "markdown"
        }
    ],
    "created": "2013-06-12 03:25:36 UTC",
    "updated": [
        "2013-06-12 03:25:36 UTC"
    ],
    "html": "<blockquote>\n<p>The way things are supposed to work is that we're supposed to know virtually everything about what they do: that's why they're called <em>public</em> servants. They're supposed to know virtually nothing about what we do: that's why we're called <em>private</em> individuals.</p>\n<p>This dynamic - the hallmark of a healthy and free society - has been radically reversed. Now, they know everything about what we do, and are constantly building systems to know more. Meanwhile, we know less and less about what they do, as they build walls of secrecy behind which they function. That's the imbalance that needs to come to an end. No democracy can be healthy and functional if the most consequential acts of those who wield political power are completely unknown to those to whom they are supposed to be accountable.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>(Emphasis in original.) Via <a href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/07/whistleblowers-and-leak-investigations\">On whistleblowers and government threats of investigation | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk</a>.</p>\n"
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