IP: Good important reading "The Clamor of a Free People"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/16/weekinreview/16GREE.html?pagewanted=1
>
> September 16, 2001
>
> WAR ZONE
> The Clamor of a Free People
>
> By LINDA GREENHOUSE
> The Associated Press
>
> WASHINGTON-ON the day after, government offices here were open
> again, ready from behind a hastily set "security perimeter" to
> conduct the public's business. What was missing was the public.
>
> With automobiles cordoned off and pedestrians scarce, with no planes
> in the sparkling September sky, the scene was orderly, serene, safe
> - and chilling. Absent was the "tumult" and "confused clamor" that
> greeted Alexis de Tocqueville on his arrival in 1831 and that he
> celebrated as the hallmark of a free country. "On passing from a
> free country into one which is not free the traveler is struck by
> the change," he wrote in "Democracy in America." "In the former, all
> is bustle and activity; in the latter everything seems calm and
> motionless."
>
> Whether the temporarily empty streets and sky offered an accurate
> vision of the future, it is clear that the balance between security
> and liberty, throughout American history a reliable barometer of the
> public's mood and collective self-confidence, will now be
> recalibrated to reflect both new realities and new perceptions. As
> the country struggles for its footing in the aftermath of terror,
> the process of resetting the balance will also be a process of
> national self- definition. If the idea takes root that civil
> liberties should not be permitted to stand in the way of a war on
> terrorism, at what point do security measures start to corrode the
> very society they are designed to protect?
 <snip>



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