A new law is being proposed at an attempt according to this New York Times article to "silence the whistle-blowers" working for the government. This would disable employees from being able to make a report if they notice that something is wrong. The legislation uses very vague language when it defines what jobs have this restriction. "The proposed rules are exceptionally vague, defining such jobs as any that could have “a material adverse impact” on national security — including police, customs and immigration positions." By using this vague language, it allows the government to restrict many job positions from being fairly reported. An adverse impact could apply to anything that would need to be reported.
If this legislation goes through, it could result in more corruption in these jobs that this law would apply to. If every mistake becomes privatized, it can be dealt with under wraps and corrupt officials can get away unpunished. This seems to go against the system of checks in balances that we value in America. If there is no checks on these jobs, the people are loosing a lot of control and have to put a lot of trust into these positions?
What could be some additional affects of this legislation being passed? Do you see any potential benefits?
"Potential benefits"? Sure, depending whose point of view you take. To the government, this would be wonderful; while the whistle-blowers do serve a purpose, they also occasionally shut down something genuinely important, and this would be a way to combat that.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it's still a great way to obliterate transparency, which is simply not a goal I can support.