Terrorism Challenges U.S. Political Culture

WASHINGTON (July 29) -- Terrorism poses a challenge, not just to President Bill Clinton or the Republican Congress, but to our whole political culture.

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) says the United States is now at the forefront of terrorist activity, not isolated from it any more.

In 1993, it was the World Trade Center bombing. In 1995, it was the Oklahoma City federal building. And this year, there has been a terrorist attack against U.S. soldiers in Saudi Arabia, a suspicious airline crash off Long Island and now the Olympic Park bombing.

Last weekend, nearly four Americans in ten said they were worried that someone in their family would become the victim of a terrorist attack. The feeling of vulnerability is growing, and it's colliding with the other great trend in American politics -- distrust of government.

This country was founded on distrust of government. It's enshrined in our Constitution, which established a weak central government with limited powers. When Americans are threatened by a crisis, however, they are willing to support a tremendous expansion of government power. That's what happened during the New Deal, World War II and the Cold War.

Since the 1970s, however, a backlash against big government has set in. In 1958, three-quarters of Americans said they trusted the federal government to do the right thing. In 1996, three-quarters say they don't trust the federal government to do the right thing.

Democrats have been forced to acknowledge that reality, as Clinton did when he declared, last January, "The era of big government is over."

So here's the dilemma. Virtually every measure likely to be effective in protecting Americans against terrorism involves bigger government.

It means more centralized power at a time when Congress is sending programs back to the states. It means more government spending at a time of deficit reduction. It means more government regulation at a time when deregulation is the buzzword. It means more government intrusion at a time when Americans are saying, "Leave us alone."

How do you expand government power to fight terrorism at a time when Americans are deeply distrustful of government? The answer: with great difficulty.

It took Congress a full year after the Oklahoma City bombing to pass the counter-terrorism bill. Critics on the left who didn't want to curb civil liberties joined forces with critics on the right who didn't want to expand federal law enforcement authority.

The result was a weak and compromised measure that doesn't seem to be doing any good. Because distrust of government now runs so deep, it will take a tremendous sense of public urgency -- a real crisis -- to give the government expanded powers to combat terrorism.

And that, of course, is exactly the way the Founding Fathers wanted it.

Wolf Blitzer/CNN: If people don't want to give more power to government, what else can they do?

Bill Schneider: Private solutions. Walled and gated communities. Private security forces. And more turning away from public places. Private cars, not public transportation. Home entertainment, not public theaters and celebrations. Private beaches and parks, not public spaces.

This story originally appeared on CNN's "Inside Politics."

AllPolitics home page