Thursday, June 22nd, 2006
An Open Letter to the President of the United States
Below is a message I wrote today to the President of the United States and copied to all three of my congressmen. As in it I state my belief that the public business is best done in public, I think it is fitting that I should publish it here as well.
Mr. President,
I urge you to call off the Justice Department’s invocation of the state secrets privilege in the case brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T.
I am growing increasingly alarmed by how often you and the agencies and departments under your direction invoke secrecy in your dealings. Your actions as President, sir, are done in my name—as they are in the names of all Americans. The amount of the public business you pursue in secret and the vigor with which you guard that secrecy give me pause as to whether that business is such that my countrymen and I would be ashamed to have it done in our names.
Secrecy is anathema to democracy; it is a privilege to be used only when desperately necessary. Be careful that you do not sacrifice too much freedom and democracy in the name of defending them, or you will find that you have led us to be as are our enemies.
Matthew Xavier
Eden Prairie, MN
