Reflection

In today’s world it is not uncommon to presume that people in positions of power and wealth control the government. We can say as much as we want about this being a democracy, but the truth is America is far from it. The everyday individual seems powerless. Citizens have very little say in the laws by which they live. Although, perhaps we as a people have become jaded. I admit that I myself fall victim to the notion that leaders are selfish and heartless. Could it possibly be that bad government is not one hundred percent to blame?

If you look at it on a local level, take the public records audit for example, where hundreds of people were denied their rights to access information. In October of 2008 the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors organized an audit to test local governments’ compliance with Florida public record laws. Our class was among the many chosen to partake in this experiment. Over the course of a few days, 56 counties were unknowingly visited. I was chosen to ask the Hillsborough County School Board for e-mails concerning the budget. I was one of the many people who had an unpleasant experience to say the least.

When I arrived at the school board I went to the office and simply requested copies of the emails. The secretary gave me a suspicious look and another lady from across the room walked over to glare at me and make me feel uncomfortable. They grilled me for my name, address, phone number, date of birth, you name it. I told them my name and asked if it was required to give them more information in order to retrieve the files. The secretary responded with, “I can’t just drop what I’m doing and spend hours finding emails. You’ll have to give us at least one week, so we need your information.” She then proceeded to explain how I would have to pay for all of the hours they would use looking for this information. I felt as though they weren’t so much trying to inform me, as they were trying to convince me to go away and not come back.

My initial reaction was to get angry at the government for hiding public records and making it impossible for regular citizens to participate in government. But after discussing the audit with my class, I realized that most of the secretaries had no clue about public record laws. Not only did they not know the laws but they behaved as though no one had ever requested the records before.

If the masses took it upon themselves to learn their rights, it would be much easier to be persistent and get the information requested. In the event that a person’s request for a record is denied, or the agency makes it difficult to attain the records, an informed citizen could site the statute and quickly resolve most dilemmas. People would be less intimidated and less likely to take no for an answer.

On the other hand, the public should not have to challenge agencies because agencies are required to know this information as well. The job of an agency like the school board or the sheriffs office is to serve the public. Before someone can be hired at any of these agencies, employees must have a certain amount of training. In that training should not only be included, but also stressed, that employees should encourage the public to take action and keep our government transparent so as to maintain a system of checks and balances within our communities.

But then does that responsibility lay on the governments who head the agencies? Shouldn’t the government mandate that their employees are up to date and well versed in Florida Public Record laws? Or is the answer all of the above? It is true that the government has no right to deny public records and there needs to be done something about that. But knowing that our government isn’t perfect, the citizens should regard it as their duty to educate themselves.

Hopefully one day Americans will be willing to work towards a true participatory democracy, but in order to get there you have to ask yourself why is it that these agency secretaries had never before been asked to retrieve public records. Why is it that they assumed only the media had access to public records? The answer is simply because not enough people have taken the time to even try and research their local government.


And then one last question to ask yourself is, why hasn’t the government done more to educate the population about their right to access this information? Is it because they feel as though an apathetic nation is one that can be easily controlled? Regardless what the answers to these questions are, it is most likely a combination of all of those factors. Everyone must get involved and fight to keep our rights, because if we don’t, we might loose them.