Log Jam

   The People's House has been closed to the public.
   In the name of "national security," the White House has withdrawn from public view its daily log of visitors to government officials. This, however, masks a move to secrecy, putting all talks and negotiations behind locked fences and closed doors, so that no one knows who is talking to whom in the White House, much less what they might be talking about.
   Time was, the home of the president of the United States was known as the People's House, and it was open to tours by students and other members of the public.
   Granted, security in these days of terrorism is important, but hiding the list of visitors to senior government officials, including the president, draws a curtain of secrecy around what clearly is a matter of public interest.
   The topics and details of these discussions may well deserve to remain private, at least until some decisions are made, but to refuse to acknowledge that such visits even exist smacks of another move toward full control of information.
   It seems clear that this tactic results from the recent disclosure of the late night visit by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and his "revelation" of supposedly secret reports relating to election shenanigans.
   For all the talk of plugging leaks of information, the president has a long history of doing just the opposite, leaking information to reporters and disguising himself as a staffer to control the story.
   The important thing to remember is that control of information and stifling the news media are the first steps on the road to dictatorship.
   Currently, the government of Uganda is jailing those who dare to criticize that country's president and his government. Any attempt at information control in America clashes directly with the Constitution, making the call for vigilance to protect liberty more important than ever.