Steve Chapman on Secrecy, The No-Fly List, and Concealed Weapons

Some
women and men shouldn’t be trusted with a loaded gun in public, and
some shouldn’t be allowed to board a plane. But the only reliable
way to separate the worthy from the unworthy is in a public forum
where people can learn why they’re excluded and offer
rebuttals.

Providing this opportunity is crucial for individuals who
otherwise might suffer unwarranted deprivation of rights that are
available to others. But it’s also important for the rest of us, if
only to reveal whether policies adopted by our elected officials
are being carried out with even a minimum level of fairness and
competence, writes Steve Chapman.

The alternative is to expect people given power to use it wisely
in the absence of public accountability, writes Chapman. It assumes
what Orwell’s Ministry of Truth proclaimed: Ignorance is
strength.

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