You know I didn't think much of President Carter when he was President. He was a throw back to an earlier time. He was honest, modest and soft spoken. He had this quaint accent. I was 16 when he came to office. I was 20 when he was replaced by a man I thought was no a friend of students or Blacks. Since I was a Black student that about wrapped it up for me. I was a student at Emory University in Atlanta. In '82 or '83 President Carter who was on staff at Emory held his first annual leadership dinner (I understand that he has continued this tradition.) It was at this dinner with 20 University leaders that I met President Carter. What a great guy! Anyway, my admiration has only grown over the years.
He wrote a great op-ed in the Washington Post the other day -
We Need Fewer Secrets
By Jimmy Carter
Monday, July 3, 2006; A21
The U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) turns 40 tomorrow, the day we celebrate our independence. But this anniversary will not be a day of celebration for the right to information in our country. Our government leaders have become increasingly obsessed with secrecy. Obstructionist policies and deficient practices have ensured that many important public documents and official actions remain hidden from our view.
The events in our nation today -- war, civil rights violations, spiraling energy costs, campaign finance and lobbyist scandals -- dictate the growing need and citizens' desire for access to public documents. A poll conducted last year found that 70 percent of Americans are either somewhat or very concerned about government secrecy. This is understandable when the U.S. government uses at least 50 designations to restrict unclassified information and created 81 percent more "secrets" in 2005 than in 2000, according to the watchdog coalition OpenTheGovernment.org.
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