World leaders gather today in Davos, Switzerland, for five days for more than fun and frolic at the World Economic Forum.

According to almost every news report of what takes place at these annual events begun in 1971, there is "public discussion" and "private deal-making."

Now, how do you feel about your elected and appointed public officials making private deals with foreign leaders?

Doesn't that bother you a little bit?

Shouldn't American officials be accountable to the will of the U.S. citizenry under the authority of the U.S. Constitution?

I'm deeply troubled by this kind of forum – whether it's the World Economic Forum or the Trilateral Commission or the Bilderberg Group.

These private meetings, far from the public eye and excluded from ethics laws and sunshine requirements, are anathema to the American way of life and the ideals upon which this nation was founded – namely national sovereignty and independence.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to American leaders meeting with foreign leaders – even in private. But such meetings should be highly publicized, analyzed and subject to reporting.

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The whole purpose of these exclusive gatherings is to avoid the light of public scrutiny.

Worse yet, these events are purposely designed to make them fun for participants, most of whom attend at the expense of taxpayers.

For instance, Davos is one of the premiere ski resorts in the world. This year's invitation list includes 27 heads of state or government, 113 cabinet ministers and a few glitterati thrown in for star appeal. This year the entertainment celebs include British actress Emma Thompson and singer-crusader Bono.

And it's not just political and entertainment elites who attend. Big business is there in force as well – people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, the chief executive of China Mobile Communications Corp. and 1,370 other chief executives.

(This chief executive, by the way, will remain here in the USA.)

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to open the event, discussing a subject about which she has proven to know nothing – establishing peace in the Middle East. She will set the tone for a meeting whose theme is "The Power of Collaborative Innovation."

I'm all for collaborative innovation, but if it's truly collaborative and it's truly innovative, why not open all the sessions – even the backroom deal-making – to the press and the public?

The phony ideas of global warming and poverty eradication, two "crises" devised as rationalizations for endless wealth redistribution schemes, will be on the agenda this week in Switzerland.

And make no mistake about it: Davos meetings are about planning actions – far from the prying eyes of the annoying constituents who actually empower these masters of the universe.

Here's how it works, according to an actual statement from the group: "Through a series of boardroom-style roundtable discussions, the World Economic Brainstorming (WEB) will identify the most pressing threat to growth and then engage participants in a facilitated group discussion to prioritize a plan of action using an electronic voting system."

Voting?

How do you feel about a group of ad hoc global gangsters voting on your future?

How do you feel about these self-anointed power brokers plotting how to save the world from the latest crisis they actually created?

But don't expect to find out what happened at Davos by Googling the results.

It seems the kids who run the world's most popular search engine company are also known for throwing the annual party at Davos – a party which for some, anyway, is the highlight of the social calendar year.

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