When I worked on Capitol Hill in the 1970s, I remember a constituency newsletter from one of our congressman. It was winter, and he was commenting how kids were tobogganing down the hill, in the grounds of the Capitol itself. It was the mark of a free society, he argued that ordinary people were welcome to go right up to the seat of government itself. By contrast, you would not get anywhere near the legislators of the totalitarian regimes that then ruled a third of the planet.Indeed, I recall that ordinary citizens could not just toboggan outside the Capitol, but saunter inside, look up at the great dome, and from there wander right found all the congressional offices. In Downing Street too, we used to stroll right past Number Ten, though standing on the doorstep was frowned on by the attending, unarmed, police constable.
Now, Downing Street is gated off, and security barriers are in place, or going up, all over Washington. New anti-car-bomb barriers are being installed around the Capitol, at a very safe distance. The fences are depressingly off-putting. Particularly in the country that prided itself on its legislators' accessibility.
[...]
One aim of terrorists is to undermine our democracy. In the way we react to them, I fear that we lose some of the accessibility of our legislators which enhances it. In its defence, we all need to be on greater guard of our traditional liberties. Distant, aloof rulers have a way of overlooking the importance of such things.
Let's not even start on the impositions of airline security.
Posted by Walter at November 5, 2006 08:01 AM