What do secrets and lies have in common with each other? Beyond the fact that both are offensive, of course.

First, I’d like to talk about secrets. So many secrets these days.

The secrets held by local town governments go under the title of “executive session .” That’s what town managers and selectmen invoke when they want to talk about anything they don’t think you’re smart enough to know about. There are, of course, some times when executive sessions are appropriate. Most times, however, those sessions are secretive and uncalled for.

The state also keeps information from people by saying that officials are negotiating deals with companies and if the people knew the details, the companies might be scared away. The governor’s office has been very good at trying to do this. If the devil is in the details, I believe the people have a right to know about those devils.

The federal government, particularly the military, often keeps secret the facts about clandestine black ops (spy and assassination exercises), saying that secrecy is necessary to protect our “national interest .” In the opinion of many others — not the military and their contractors — transparency is our main national interest. We have a right to know who the crooks are.

There is so much our governments — local, state and federal — don’t want us to know. They like to operate under the cover of darkness like so many common thieves.

Now to answer the original question: What do secrets and lies have in common? They both conceal the truth. Truth is the one thing that truly gives us our freedom.

I never saw a bullet that gave anyone freedom. Every bullet I ever saw brought only death and destruction.

Peter P. Sirois, Madison