Dark State

In 2021, a coalition of bureaucrats, large corporations, and special interests is undertaking an unprecedented attack on government transparency and our civil liberties. They are limiting our freedoms and choices, robbing us of our prosperity, and more and more they are taking away our ability to protest their actions and petition our government with our grievances. As these special interests come to dominate so much of our lives, secretive government agencies and officials serve as their primary gatekeepers, guardians, and protectors.That is is true in the United States, in each of the 50 states, and it is especially true in the Badger State. In 2021, Wisconsin is a Dark State, its citizens intentionally kept in the dark about what their government is doing. And, with some notable exceptions, things are getting darker.Elected officials, state agency bureaucrats, judges-officials in every branch of government are increasingly extinguishing pathways to the information we need, and that we already pay for, to self-govern.Dark State shows just government officials are thwarting transparency and civil rights, but it also demonstrates just how some citizens are fighting back and winning, and how we can open the doors and enter into our own government again.Now is the time for action. Now is the time to focus our attention on openness as a foundational principle, a principle to be elevated and fought for in every political campaign and in every advocacy movement. For without it, no cause-liberal or conservative, libertarian or collectivist, statist or individualist-no cause at all can truly be authenticated and debated and decided in the public square, for the public square will not be in the arena of decision-making. Important decisions will be made in dark government back alleys, the reasons for which will be elusive, barricaded as they are from public view and inquiry.Censorship and secrecy are the foundations of this new coalition; open government and freedom of speech are its enemies.To beat back this assault, it will take a powerful force of a citizenry united in the critical cause of freedom. It will take Republicans and Democrats alike to fight together-and to fight together now-for the most important cause of transparency.