Giving Up Classified Documents

The search for classified documents in the possession of former presidents and vice presidents means what, exactly? First of all, these individuals must have had legal access to them at some time in the past, maybe. But there might be documents containing information that not even a sitting president is qualified to know. Documents generated and held by the military, for instance, may very well be retained by them and kept from the eyes of the president, vice president or other figures in the administration. They might never be released to civilians instead being ultimately destroyed. 

The current fixation with classified documents has been an effect of Trump derangement syndrome that has blossomed into an even greater concern of the career nomenclatura than the institutional fear of and disgust with the former president himself. The department of justice has seized the opportunity to not only intimidate former elected big wigs but all future ones. 

How this process will play out is unknown. The ordinary citizen, and voter, are already aware that many important policy decisions are made without the knowledge or approval of their own elected representatives. No one was made aware that the Biden presidency would mean an unarmed invasion across the Rio Grande. The careerists in the national security business were very much ready to implement policies that hadn't been approved by the voters or their elected representatives. Except for the highest appointees we will never know the names of those that actually fastened the nuts and bolts of this mechanism.

This is also true of other government agencies and the current trend will be extended even further. The EPA already has a black curtain between it and the general public, hiding future regulations on kitchen stoves and automobiles that could, and should, be debated perhaps for decades.

The digital world was meant, at least in part, to make the access to information easier for everyone. From the standpoint of those in government this isn't necessarily a good thing. The furor over classified documents shows that those pulling the strings don't want any witnesses or records of their work. Future presidents will be inclined to maintain ignorance, in document form, of classified information.