Secrecy, screening not healthy to democracyIs terrorism redefining our democracy?

Can democracy survive in an age that is defined by terrorism?

A cynic might easily conclude that whenever a president needs a boost in the polls, he only needs to raise the alert level to orange.

Since the events of 9/11, various citadels of American government have been fortified to the point that they exclude the very people they must attract.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote recently about the effect that is having on diplomacy abroad. The situation he describes is no less true in this country.

Friedman focused on the American embassy in Istanbul, which has become a fortress. The good news, as Friedman tells it, is that the embassy was not a terrorist target, as was the British embassy in that city. The bad news is that the building is repellent. Writes Friedman: “In 20 more years, we could wake up and find that we’ve gone from America the accessible to America the isolated. The only Americans foreigners will meet will be those wearing U.S. Army uniforms and body armor.”

The U.S. Capitol and its congressional office buildings have become forbidding in their own way. The capitol’s screening mechanism is especially destructive of the democratic ethos. In ways, large and small, it is clear that common citizens are welcome only in very small numbers. Certain historic places in the Capitol are now closed. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has closed the original Senate chamber, which is across the hall from his office.

In practical terms, if you were to try to see one of Oregon’s senators, you would run a semblance of a gantlet to get there. Gerry Frank, while he was administrative assistant to Sen. Mark Hatfield, set a good example. Frank took calls unfiltered. No one asked who was calling or what they wanted. Sen. Gordon Smith’s chief of staff has emulated that example. But calls to Sen. Ron Wyden’s chief of staff are screened.

Telephone screening and security filters have the same effects, which are twofold. Many citizens see the filter or screen and quit trying to enter the place that was once public, or they quit trying to call their senator or congressman. Secondly, the office holder doesn’t hear from certain people, who won’t put up with the screening.

It is unhealthy for our senators and congressmen to work in an environment that is forbidding to common citizens. It enables the secrecy and elitism that quickly abounds in any form of government.