Some people look at government as a parent, others a spouse, and some a look at government as a subordinate.

No not lies. Keeping an extremely small number of secrets mostly surrounding details of military might may be necessary. Secrets about personal and legislative actions are almost never okay. And I only leave the tiniest window open in recognition that I don't know every possibility. Why no lies and almost no secrets? A population in a country goverend of, for, and by the people can not fulfill it's responsibility, it's duty if information is withheld.

In a purely theoretical sense the problem is intractable. Any laws we implement, institutions we create, whistleblower/journalist protection scheme we implement will eventually be subverted in some way. In all human social systems, including governments, power concentration grows somewhere. This allows one or many of those power centers to eventually subvert the system. Put another way, as governments operate through time, the probability they will improperly keep secrets(or do something "illegal") approaches one. That isn't to say that I am fatalistic about the issue. For obvious reasons dictatorships, autocracies, monarchies, etc are all off the table in terms of establishing a remedy to this issue. The theoretical "best" designed republics establish a system of government which not only creates checks and balances but also has a self calibrating mechanism to slow(or reverse) power concentration. This would require the three main power centers in a republic; the citizens, elite(corporations or private domestic interests), and government to be in a constant state of accountability to the body politic. This of course is incompatible with human nature. We have been delegating power to leaders since proto-humans began congregating into tribes. From an American perspective, the Bill of Rights and establishment of three branches of government scheme was very well designed. However, we are learning there are limitations. Power centers and shared interests across what are "supposed" to be opposing parties have emerged. Currently a dynamic exists where power has concentrated in government and elites. This makes the keeping of secrets easier as those parties in power can coerce other parties; labeling someone a spy, extrajudicial killing, false conviction, imprisonment, covert action, etc. In Assange case, we can observe that the coercion powerful parties employed was through the use of a drawn out legal limbo resulting in confinement and isolation. I argue that this punishment through process tactic has been used to disincentivize future journalists from publishing government secrets. What journalist would want to be subjected to what Assange was subjected to? If a remedy is to be achieved only if the citizens assert the dilution of the existing power concentration. This is becoming more difficult as America is becoming more diverse/factional thus making political consensus among citizens more difficult to achieve. To discuss the American system further, possible remedies to the issue could include term limits for all elected officials including judges, laws requiring the release of secret information after a certain period of time, strengthen FOIA, and redesign of the FISA process.

people don't have a right to be spoon fed. unless they are toddlers.

Seems to me that (1) there is no easy answer to your question, and (2) it is reasonable to say that regime secrecy (or even outright lies) can be judged to be legitimate only with respect to the character of a particular regime. In an aristocracy, where the best do actually rule, secrets seem perfectly legitimate. Don't secrets often confer advantages? And can't the best be trusted to keep the right secrets for the right reasons? Whereas in a tyranny secrets are more likely to confer advantage to the tyrant, at the expense of the common good. In a modern representative democracy (as you point out) there is a brutal tension, and possibly no good position to take on secrets. Keeping secrets would seem to distort the flow of information, i.e., the very mechanism by which people are said to be able to select the best representatives. But, once in power, what if a representative deems a secret necessary? There would seem to be no good option. The need for secrecy and the need for transparency are both legitimate, and cut against each other. The topic of government secrecy reminds me of the film Three Days of the Condor. Especially the ending. Definitely worth watching IMO.

Queue the value of both the individual and State to aspire toward and exemplify the varieties of virtue, for which the West, and explicitly the US has systematically unwittingly sought to escape, while simultaneously doing everything they can to sell themselves as - the shining beacon on hill - exemplars of.

Ahh the Socratic Noble Lie

"if i've seen further its because i stand on the shoulders of giants." Isaac Newton saying that means a lot. We dont give credit where credit is due. Not politically, hardly socially, etc. Also; if disinformation, public participation, etc is truly an issue, which i think it is, then education might be looked at as a core, imo. Humans hardly even know what language is! Symbolic logic is still the most useful human achievement and technology, in mine and apparently Galileo's opinion. knows how to orientate that anymore In a program or be programmed world. Its in my best interest for you to be self actualized or in a choice expressive state. Else black magic pulls the strings.... So learn baby learn. Philosophia, search for Truth in order of Harmonia, quest for beauty. Thrown into chaos a la immanence dripping with inspiration. Determinance arises, a kosmos of total Kosmos, good and righteous. That's the cosmology. A Pythagorean and platonian combo. "The" as in my "the" my opinion and version. And if so: Functional transparency regarding public resources and social organization is a requirement for my integral approval. I believe humans share in social realisms. Imagine venn diagrams bubble and popping. Forming pattern. My conjecture is that nature tends to make better decisions than other peoples magic, moreover people being manipulated unknowingly. Doably tough, nothing but love and education... Functional transparency With transparency we'd require a form like radical acceptance... At least enough to listen to what in the world people are pointing at before we kill them. 😲