Only an incredibly immature and naive person would believe that a democratic government should never keep secrets. This isn’t about the fact that secrets are kept. It’s about the people who are keeping them. No matter what -ism you choose, sooner or later the darker traits of human nature - greed, desire for absolute power, corruption, etc. - will surface and begin to corrupt the tenets of the -ism. Of course some -isms, like Socialisn, Marxism, etc., have their genesis in these darker traits. So what is the answer? There is no perfect answer. We are, after all, a fallen people. But voting for people who believe in and act in accordance with the teachings of a higher authority might help, although, I suspect Obama would claim that is what he is. I guess deciding which higher authority is good to follow is also a decsion we need to make.
I absolutely agree with your post 100%.
Sadly, snake politicians will always find ways to portray themselves as followers of a higher power... I’d say 99% of politicians are no different than 0bama in that regard. The goats will remain among the sheep until kingdom come. And, as you pointed out in your response prior to the one to me, you really cannot trust the intentions of the Assanges of the world either — they often have hidden ulterior motives behind apparent acts of altruism.
Happy medians that strike the right balance of transparency and secrecy are ultimately impossible. I suppose that the best solution is to recognize that attitudes are cyclical and to allow them to oscillate back and forth between a little too much transparency and a little too much secrecy depending on the times and, as you said, who is in charge. Our attitudes about such things tend to be as fluid as our society and time itself and that might be the key to balance rather than fixing it at a particular level.