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'Trust has no greater enemy than secrecy, which spawns suspicion, confusion, fear and massive speculation. People kept in the dark fill in the blanks not with their best hopes — but their worst fears."

Last week, I read that strong statement by former journalist Henry Hurt, who was quoted in the 2006 Freedom Forum First Amendment calendar on my desk, in eye-line view so I can be reminded of democratic principles as I research, teach and practice freedom of expression.

Those words of Hurt also raise grave concerns as I consider the meaning and impact of the House resolution passed Thursday that asked for, among other things, the press to help the government keep secret how it looks at the financial transactions of certain Americans and others in its "War on Terrorism."

The government looks at those financial transactions in ways that could violate your rights, according to recent and much-criticized articles in the New York Times.

That resolution — H.R. 895 — infuriates me as a citizen, a scholar, and a journalist, as I know that the First Amendment guarantees that journalists have the freedom to hold government accountable by exposing the truth. And it also causes me to wonder what the government has to hide.

Don't you think that the terrorists already have figured out that the U.S. has been tracing their money?

In my mind, the current government simply doesn't want the people to know what it does, unless the government thinks the information serves its own purposes.

Since the early days of the Republic, fearful members of the U.S. government have attempted to squelch public opinion by using laws against the press.

The fearful Federalists pushed for and the fearful Democrats (then known as Republicans) later benefited from the Alien and Sedition Acts, which outlawed certain types of dissent. Thankfully, those acts passed away.

But, before and during the Civil War, fearful federal, state and Confederate governments suppressed the press by stopping mailings of dissident newspapers, charging abolitionists with seditious libel and other crimes, and using other draconian means.

During and since World War I, fearful federal and state governments have charged dissidents who dared to criticize those in power.

The more you attempt to suppress, the more you anger those you serve. Maybe those in power need to rely upon truth and sunshine to prove their cases, rather than passing resolutions designed to bully the press.

What, really, do we have to fear from the press explaining to the public how the government may be usurping the rights of people as it wages war?

It's time for the press to take more seriously its role as the watchdog of government and follow the fearless example of The New York Times by pressing the administration for real answers to the right questions.