In this era of rapid social and technological change leading to increasing life complexity and psychological displacement, some people may approve that it is necessary, even desirable, for political leaders to withhold information from the public. I endorse to this conclusion. Maybe there are too many information that we ordinary people shouldn't know, such as nuclear technology, national defense information. But the political leaders need to deliberate before withholding information.
First of all, it is necessary for political leaders to withhold information sometimes. Actually, political leader depart from our ordinary people practice of talking about something. They gives priority to the whole country. So they have many secrets about the county that our ordinary people shouldn't know. For instance, political leader should withhold information about national defense. That national defense information become widely publicized is of obvious advantage, as if there is a war, the enemy will attack our country easily. Political leaders should also withhold nuclear technology. The country may use the nuclear technology to generate electricity or product weapon. If the enemy is well know about our country's nuclear weapon information. Our country will be very dangerous, because it expose to the enemy's gunfire. They know the location of the weapon and the type of the weapon, then they can take care our weapon and attack our country easily. Furthermore, if the situation is uncertain, political leader have to withhold information, too. Political leader should be protected from panic to avoid a great loss. People are liable to panic because of bad information, such as disease and wars. Seen from political leader, it is easy to realize that he has to hold back information to guarantee the stability of the country. Therefore political leader should withhold information from the public sometimes.
However, the political leader cannot always withhold information from the public. Public has a right to know something, such as the policy of education, the policy of tax, the policy of residence, and the policy of price. To protect the right to know, political leader should distinguish appropriately which information he should withhold. If the government withhold information irrelevantly, it may bring more loss. One good example of why political leader should not always withhold information is in the medical field. A great number of people lost their lives because of the disease-SARS. In fact, Chinese government discovered the disease long ago, but they were never able to solve the problem. They withheld the information first. So people didn't know the dangerous disease, and they didn't pursue several courses of protect actions, like taking a respirator to staying away from SARS virus. As a consequence,it seemed to world that SARS took a heavy toll of human life. It turns out that the reason why SARS was so serious is that the political leader withhold information irrelevantly. This is an excellent example of political leader should not always withhold information.Without withholding, the security of country cannot be ensured. Without information, the security of people cannot be ensured. So political leader should deliberate before making the choice.