Overstepping

Does the public have the right to know? It depends. Know what? Know that a potentially life threatening virus has been identified in their community? Yes. Simply, yes. When it comes to public health, the government should not withhold information. It is not for the benefit of the public good to refuse to tell a community that there has been potential exposure to something that could impact their health. Will there be some people that panic or overreact? Well of course, there are people that overreact to anything. But the problems that come with a few that might be illogical is weightless when compared to the risks that come with being uninformed. And perhaps it isn’t really here, but that isn’t the issue. The issue is that it could be and our government doesn’t think that we have the right to know. The public is not owed information that would identify an infected person or impact their privacy, but they are owed awareness. The government is not the parent, deciding what information to dole out because they fear, or want to control, the response. The people are not mindless idiots that cannot think or make decisions for themselves, given good, reliable information. Of course, there are extremists in both the government and the citizen sector but decisions should not be made on that small demographic.

Are there instances that the government should withhold information? Unfortunately, yes. But those deal with National Security and very few will argue the point when that is the stake. Why is it that government cannot seem to remember that it is a function of the people? It is not its own private island, enterprise or community, though it often appears to be at odds with what is best for the average citizen.

In the same light, the government should not be making power grabs by degrading issues that are complex and sensitive in a bid to up the political ante. For the government to take issues that prey on the faith of good people and use them to motivate a vote is, in my opinion, political piracy at its most disgusting. Two separate issues, some might say. Not really. Overstepping is overstepping and it is time that we, the people, remind them of just who they are stepping on.