This weeks New York Times Magazine has an excelent article by Michael Ignatieff entitled Lesser Evils. I would highly recomend that anyone who cares about the current situations of civil liberties, the war on terror, and governmental control should read this and think about it.
This is the first article I have seen that seems to take a balanced approach to our current situation. He argues that it may be necessary to inflict the “lesser evils” for the “greater good.” I am not convinced of all of his arguments however I strongly agree with the argument he makes throughout the article regarding “transparency.”
No matter what the government is allowed to, the system must be designed to allow for transparency; this is the key to democracy. The people must be allowed to scrutinize the actions of their representatives in order to be informed. The media cannot shy away from things “in the name of national security.” It just doesn’t work that way. Secrecy is the cornerstone of governmental excesses.
Go read, comment.