what does the government hide from the people?
80703
Things that would harm the 'security' of the government. Sounds nice, but in reality, they hide anything that would interfere with the status quo. Since they don't want a wrong impression of what they have screwed up in the past, they hide pretty much everything they use to make decisions and the actions they take under the premise of 'the interest of national security'. This could be technology which would help enemies (so-called; expanding who constitutes an 'enemy' greatly expands what can be kept secret), anything that would ruin our economy or the main corporations which support it, anything that might reveal how our weapons work, policies about how things are REALLY kept secret, plans for keeping the government (and friends) safe after a major attack, strategic sources of materials which aren't publicly disclosed already, scientific data that might cause panic, scientific data that might cause distrust of the government, inventions which could be used as weapons (yes, they monitor patent applications), and all the usual things like who is a spy for who, how we monitor communications, how other countries monitor our communications (and sell us the info), how much money our intelligence agencies spend, and who in our country is suspected of being a threat to any of the above things.\nI think that pretty much covers it. If anything like paranormal activity, UFO's, or antigravity technology falls under the categories above, welllllll....\nAnd don't forget that they won't tell you if something they tell you is really false or misleading so that you don't investigate something else they are hiding. The interconnected web of confidentiality agreements, classified documents, and disinformation is not an accidentaly complicated system. It is meant to confuse people. Just like the aisles in a store which make you go around things just so you spend more time looking at and buying things you otherwise weren't interested in. It's all in the marketing.
753120
they conserve truth and hide it.
1046691
ignorance controls the lives of many people.
619768
sadly not much, and this is only referring to the basic system here and how it should work.  if one extends the idea of knowledge of the system to include government actions and such, its probably even lower.  i would like to think i have a fair understanding of it overall, but i know very little actually except what manages to leak out about what goes on behind the closed doors in dc.  a more process transparent government would be very nice.
190457
The government will easily admit that the area known commonly as Area 51 is owned by the govt. They're even cool with people knowing that it's used to testing the more secret types of planes, weapons, etc. \n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51
462682
As individuals we have rights. We have a right to privacy, and this include our DNA. Besides why would the government want to keep track of something so personal for everyone in the country. \n\nBesides, the government has a bad track record of cover ups and basically not playing above the board, how could they (the government)expect us (he people) to trust them with such sensitive information. As far AS I AM CONCERNED I BELIEVE THEY WOULD DO SOMETHING UNETHICAL WITH THE INFORMATION, LIKE CLONING TO BREED SOME SORT OF GOD KNOWS WHAT. THAT'S WHY THEY SHOULD NOT BE PRIVY TO EVERYTHING. ITS LIKE INVITING STRANGERS INTO YOUR BEDROOM, OR IN THIS CASE, YOUR BODY. ITS JUST NOT A GOOD IDEA!
101108
Virtually every aspect of our lives, from birth to death (birth & death certificates, regulations over hospitals and morgues), clothing & food (taxes on these items, and import/export regulations), houses we live in (building codes, property taxes, house insurance), cars we drive (automobile insurance, driving laws), the air we breathe (regulations on industry pollution standards)...I really can't think of anything the government, whether local, state, or federal, doesn't have their fingers into.
1184505
There are many reasons the government tries to cover things up. It could be a mistake they made, and so yes, they dont want to look foolish. It could be that they have a certain agenda or policy they wish to enact, and too many facts made public would make it more difficult for them to enact that policy.\n\nThere is no simple answer to your question, because there are so many reasons that the government feels like it's neccessary to keep things secret from the very people they are supposed to serve.\n\nOne solution of course, is to elect a different set of public officials who actually remember who it is they work for.
820381
The government is (or was) established to protect the rights of the people, not to protect the people. Government is not a scam, even though most of it is a joke. I believe that our country could use a better government, not just locally, but nationally. We as a Nation and a state deserve a better government than we currently have. The government is trying to protect our rights, but we also have private domain (this includes areas of individual life that are of no business to the govt.) We have many freedoms, they just want to protect those rights.
143975
anything that is against the law of the government.
291927
The people should define the government.
317776
god knows what the heck they are doing. The government don't tell us how they are spending the money completely. Thats how corrupt the government is keeping secrets of the so hard earned money is being wasted to secret projects.
522841
until the people rise against thier government. Freedom has a price that must be paid before a country gets a free government.That price is not cheap.
367782
the government is supposed to be the channel to the people from their own country to represent their (the people) voices. and the government is supposesdly to guide the people, to unite them, to serve the people to bring out peace in the world.\n\nbut the government system has been deteriorated nowadays, and like you said, it has helped the rich to be more richer and somehow it tends to lose focus on the objectives of the government system itself. and the poorer gets oppressed now and then.\n\nno government is right in this world. we just have to deal with it and live our life by our own rules at the end of the day.
3109
They're not hiding those things from all of us, just those of you they want to keep in your menial jobs in order to maintain the economy. If you knew all the amazing stuff that was going on you'd be more dissatisfied and might revolt. Too bad for you.
715280
There are tons of stuff the government keeps from the public.I think its a conspiracy.
40178
I think that this government is really nosy. I agree, we have problems. Huge problems. We are in billions of dollars in debt, they're cutting fundings were we need it the most. Its not fair in this system of things.