Fear industry steals freedoms

"There are ghosties and ghoulies and long-legged beasties and things that go 'bump' in the night." A tardy column on Halloween? No, this is a tribute to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Transportation Secretary Federico Pena -- and America's burgeoning fear industry.

Remember when a couple of nuts tried to do to President Clinton? One tried to crash his small plane into the White House. Another ran up and down Pennsylvania Avenue shooting bullets at the White House.

What did Bruce Babbitt's Park Police do? They cordoned off Pennsylvania Avenue to automobiles. Never mind that these assaults by a crazed pilot and pedestrian would not be affected one iota by the huge flower pots that now block the street and prevent taxis and ordinary citizens from driving past the White House. The assault on the president activated America's "security specialists" who spearhead its growing fear industry, further isolating the institutions of our democracy, bringing us one step closer to the garrison state. It's a little like burning the village to save it.

The fear industry's latest outrage was directed by Pena's Federal Aviation Administration, which last month ordered "heightened" security at our nation's airports. Now when you check in you are forced to show a picture ID and you are asked inane questions. Example: "Were you given a package to carry by someone you didn't know?" While bag men for Washington politicians might take a package from a person they don t know, this is not a practice of most normal Americans.

Once again, we have a triumph of symbolic politics over real world problem-solving. Any terrorist can easily get a picture ID -- for less than $5. Ask any illegal immigrant.

Similarly, can you imagine a terrorist with a bomb in his bag saying, "Yes, a bearded guy in a turban gave me this bag. I never met him. He was a friend of a friend, you know."

Yet, these symbolic gestures cost us time, money and convenience; they rob us of the fruits of our free and open society; and they do nothing to enhance the safety of air travelers or the president. Their only result is to expand employment in the fear industry and give the appearance of enhanced security -- the "blue smoke and mirrors" that federal officials specialize in.

The response of Babbitt and Pena to real threats (after all, I do not deny there are threats to our president and to air safety) is a little like the drunk searching for his keys under the lamp post at 2 a.m. Finally, a passerby stops to help. "Where did you lose them?" he asks. "Over near the parking lot," the drunk replies, pointing across the street to a dark cavern between two buildings. "Then why are you looking here?" asks the puzzled passerby. "Because this is where the light is," said the drunk, a little bewildered by such a "stupid" question.

We should all be asking some "stupid" questions. Why do federal officials impose police state routines that bear no relation to the threats to our safety and security? If Babbitt wants to protect the president, then transfer the Park Service to the Department of Justice so we can have an integrated approach to federal law enforcement -- whether it is a innocent Foster suicide investigation or securing the White House from would-be assassins. If Pena wants to protect our safety, let him fix the FAA's air traffic radar systems or railroad crossing signals. These are real problems they can work on -- where progress could actually make it safer for all Americans. It's time to get real.