Transparency

This is Joseph

There is a good conversation about transparency going on right now. The gist of it is that the 2016 elections have created perverse incentives for being transparent. If you release information then the press hunts through it looking for a series of mini-scandals. If you release nothing then people quickly lose interest. This creates a serious incentive to minimize transparency.

When talking to people about this, it has been speculated that the 2016 election was rather unique. And so it was. But the pattern continues. It has been three and a half years since the 2016 election and the question of whether congress can see the president's taxes is still being litigated.  This includes attempts to source these records from third party sources, such as banks.

It would be less of an issue if people were not suddenly asking Joe Biden to make as many records available as possible. What I find perplexing here, is that people have lost perspective on the size of the offence (as well as their ability to blame their own conduct). The question of how separate business interests are from the presidency is a perfect area for transparency.

What we need is the press to stand above "false equivalency" and make lack of transparency carry a political price, via repetition of the issues and refusing to punish openness on the part of candidates.