I don't consider U. S. News and World Report to be paradigms of leftist ideology or reporting. Quite the opposite--traditionally this magazine has been seen as the most right wing of the big three news magazines.

Given that position, this article carries increased weight in my estimation."Keeping Secrets
The Bush administration is doing the public's business out of the public eye. Here's how--and why"


Here's a taste of what the authors, Christopher Smith and Edward Pound, have to say:

New administration policies have thwarted the ability of Congress to exercise its constitutional authority to monitor the executive branch and, in some cases, even to obtain basic information about its actions. One Republican lawmaker, Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, became so frustrated with the White House's refusal to cooperate in an investigation that he exclaimed, during a hearing: "This is not a monarchy!" Some see a fundamental transformation in the past three years. "What has stunned us so much," says Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a public interest group in Washington that monitors government activities, "is how rapidly we've moved from a principle of `right to know' to one edging up to `need to know.' "

When the administration purposefully and regularly has "thwarted the ability of Congress to exercise its constitutional authority to monitor the executive branch" the only conclusion we can draw is that this administration is anti-democratic. That is worth worrying about!