You might not be
comfortable with the idea that documents about your party
affiliation, criminal history, and property ownership are publicly
available. You're probably thinking that there's too much of your
personal information just floating around for anyone to see and use.
However, the truth is, public records are a great way to ensure
transparency in the country.
Basically, any entity
that uses taxpayer money to fund its operation (like local
governments, police districts, and schools) is obligated by law to
make most of their documents available to citizens, provided that the
request to inspect such documents follow the required process.
Requiring government or public offices to share certain records
ensures accountability on their part—that is, that they're not
using your hard-earned money on shady dealings. It also allows people
to see if an institution is efficient in managing its finances.
For example, a
government institution—say your local high school—receives a
budget for the year. It can spend this money on any number of things,
such as building new classrooms or renovating the cafeteria. Whatever
it decides to do, the expense report has to be publicly available so
parents know if the school is wisely using the money or squandering
it for unnecessary expenses.
As you can see, there's
no need to think of public documents as a threat to privacy. A
better way to look at them are as “two-way streets to
transparency”.
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