In the public discussion of LDS temples, critics often take it for granted that limiting admission to Latter-day Saints in good standing (i.e., doing things “in secret”) supports a presumption that there must be something to hide. Conveniently, that presumption, once entertained, can’t be convincingly refuted without breaching the privacy of the temple. So how about a different example: see Politico’s article on JournoList.

What exactly are all these lefty journalists and fellow travelers talking about in secret? Obviously, it must be wrong. They must be discussing plans to undermine the United States or to suppress media reporting of stories unfavorable to their ideological views, right? Why else would it be so secret? If it is so secret, there must be something wrong with it, right?

JournoList does explain why so much lefty journalism (i.e., journalism) seems slightly unhinged: they aren’t trying to make their writing agree with right reasoning, common sense, or the real world — they’re more concerned with making it agree with each other.

So what do we make of the apparent fact that conservative bloggers and pundits implicitly endorse free and open discourse, while the transparency-lauding lefties do things behind closed doors?