Just a quick and short blurb: folks are now in a tizzy because "Leaked Colin Powell emails fault Trump and Clinton." And that is interesting and exciting and so forth.
But I can't believe that folks aren't picking up more on this: "Among Powell’s emails, however, are comments that reflect that he too sought to use private email as a way to avoid creating documents retained by the government. Decrying 'friggin record rules,' Powell wrote [blah blah less relevant stuff]" These "friggin' record rules" are, in fact, citizens' best recourse for government transparency and oversight.
And it's what I've been saying for months: citizens have to make some noise, because our elected officials--those who oversee archives and ensure their funding--are the ones who have the most to lose by having their own records retained and publicly available. We're the ones who gain from that. So we need to make sure our elected officials know that we care. It's all fun and games to blame the archivists, but frankly, the archives doesn't have an enforcement mechanism; we have no teeth, in the politics game. So constituents have to make this enough of an issue that elected officials stay honest, at least as far as their records go.
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