We live in a world filled with disinformation and misleading accounts. Due to this flood of words on social media and other sites, our government must do more to promote transparency.
Therefore, it is very important for government officials to clearly explain what their plans are. Everyone wants to know where their tax dollars are going, and how they–and their community–will benefit. If someone wins the Georgia Lottery, we want to know how much went to students’ education. If taxes are raised, we want to know how that extra money is being used. While, naturally, we would appreciate it if those funds were to be used to benefit us, we would be happier knowing what it is for, even if it does not help us because that way we can do something about it. We would rather know you are allowing a corporation to profit from your actions than be forced to guess what deals you make with them behind closed doors. We want to know how the government is protecting and helping us, and if we were to know precisely what the government was doing, we would likely trust it more.
In addition to our government’s responsibility to uphold transparency inside the government, they should also promote transparency in contracts between their constituents and corporations. Most people do not even glance at Terms and Services Contracts. Therefore, they do not know how bad the terms may be. In fact, many don’t even know they don’t own a product, but rather, they own a ‘license’ to use it. Because consumers don’t know the terms, they have no idea what their rights are (as defined by the contract) or why their ability to use the product abruptly ended. To save consumers from this mess, while allowing companies to not worry about battling people who broke their contracts through arbitration, the government needs to encourage transparency in the contract. The contract should be easy to understand, and brief enough to actually encourage users to read it. Why do corporations use such complicated jargon, in such long contracts, if they want us to actually read them? They could easily make the contracts both shorter and simpler, so that all literate users (which could be another barrier to transparency) can actually read and understand them.
Contracts aren’t the only place where transparency is needed. In several industries, and most of all in the healthcare industry, we need to know what we’re getting into as well. We want to know how this procedure will help. We want to know when insurance will help us, and when it will not. We do not want to jump through hundreds of hoops only to face a stinging denial of our claim by an insurance company. We want to be able to know the cost of a procedure before it is time to pay for it. We want to know how our information is protected, and how these companies help.
We need to reform society to make it more transparent. Currently, it is hard to see the intentions of faceless corporations and a mysterious government, so we urge them to share their plans clearly and simply, no matter what service they operate.
