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EDITORIAL
Creating targets
(Published August 23, 2004)

The nation’s capital is becoming less secure with every additional tax dollar that officials spend to create more roadblocks, both real and figurative, restricting the access of American citizens to their government.

Did the officials making these decisions fall asleep in school?

The real strength of the United States government is that it is government of, for and by the people. Lessening the public’s opportunities to participate actively and directly as a part of the decision-making process only weakens this nation’s ability to defend itself against any enemy.

Citizens are now being barred entry to many public buildings in the District of Columbia for lack of a photo identification card. A whole generation of Americans has grown up believing, based on experience, that explaining why they want to participate in their government – and possibly having their privacy invaded as part of that explanation – is a normal requirement for doing so. Gone are the days when young and old Americans were encouraged to walk the halls of government freely to learn how they could interact.

When fewer people are allowed access to government information and the process by which government officials – the public’s elected and appointed servants – use that information to manage governmental affairs, those elite individuals are transformed into bigger targets.America is supposed to be ruled by the ballot box, not the bullet.

Officials need to remember that it is the office, not the individual currently occupying the office chair, that needs to be protected most. Our leaders are sending the wrong message to those who seek to harm us when enemies believe that killing an American official will topple the U.S. government. In reality, our governmental structure will survive as long as an active American citizenry exists.

That’s what makes us so different from other countries. That’s why the message is so important. And that’s why government officials should stop building a cocoon that isolates them from the people they serve and increases the burden of public service. The people whose hard-earned tax dollars pay their salaries should not be treated like "the enemy."

Reasonable security for government buildings and officeholders is prudent and has existed at the federal level, in some form, for more than 100 years. Through most of history America’s leaders have managed to maintain proper perspective, realizing that some personal risk was a part of public service that could not be entirely eliminated in a free society.

Homeland security mania now appears to be a more imminent threat to America’s way of life than any terrorist’s bomb. Routinely putting guns between the American people and their government is simply wrong. It is a sign that our leaders have forgotten whom they are supposed to serve and what they are supposed to protect.

The message from our leaders needs to change. An informed and active citizenry is what keeps the United States strong. It is the American people’s responsibility to protect their government by participating. It is the duty of government officials to encourage that participation. They are failing miserably in that regard.

Americans – especially our seemingly paranoid leaders – need to stand tall against terrorism, not recoil in fear.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator