> when they hide what they are doing from their voters
This is literally the premise of clandestine agencies, and it’s not a new concept. They’ve been around for 50 years now. This isn’t some bait-and-switch, voters have always known what a clandestine agency is.
I understand that there exists some voters who don’t believe that clandestine agencies should exists. Unfortunately, such voters are in the minority. And unfortunately the majority of Americans find clandestine agencies (and in general, a strong defense) to be “socially useful”.
Sure, but by definition clandestine agencies cannot have public approval because there is no way for voters to know whether they should approve of it or not. It is purely a question of trust. You just can't play that card.
> but by definition clandestine agencies cannot have public approval because there is no way for voters to know whether they should approve of it or not.
Again, I am directly refuting that argument. Voters can approve of clandestine agencies if they sign onto the fact that there exists some organs of the government that engage in secret activities unbeknownst to the public. What you are saying would only be correct if at first voters expected to be privy to the activities of the clandestine agencies, and then that happened to change. That has not been the case.
I have provided you an actual poll that asks users "do you approve of these secret agencies (that have always been secret)". When presented with evidence that voters do approve of that, it's a bit of a hack to say that it's literally impossible for voters to approve of it. Not every voter in America is a progressive programmer that subscribes to the EFF's world view.
That is not a good metric of democracy. If your only metric of democracy is a poll of an information that actively suppresses information, China is by far the most "democratic" developed country with Western polls showing approval ratings of the CCP at 80+%.
So no, just being polled highly is not sufficient for something being democratically sanctioned. If you want to know if the People agree with what the CIA does let 100 people read the entire archives uncensored without any further justification and see what you get.
This is literally the premise of clandestine agencies, and it’s not a new concept. They’ve been around for 50 years now. This isn’t some bait-and-switch, voters have always known what a clandestine agency is.
I understand that there exists some voters who don’t believe that clandestine agencies should exists. Unfortunately, such voters are in the minority. And unfortunately the majority of Americans find clandestine agencies (and in general, a strong defense) to be “socially useful”.