WACO INCREASED DISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT

Special Counsel John Danforth's decision to clear the federal government of
wrongdoing in the 1993 Waco disaster is an affirmation of the proper
authority of government. There is no right to stockpile an arsenal of
military weapons, and the evidence suggests that the siege was justified.
The state's actions seem appropriate in the face of an inherent military
threat to others, including children.

``The only antidote to this public distrust is government openness and
candor,'' Danforth said. But candor alone isn't the cure for what ails
America, and Danforth's words aren't the last on what's feeding growing
distrust of the state.

The evidence is everywhere. Timothy McVeigh bombed the Federal Building in
Oklahoma City on the second anniversary of the Waco disaster. Unknown
terrorists made reference to Waco when they attempted to blow up a train in
Arizona. From the shootout at Columbine to shocking law-enforcement abuses,
there's a sense that something is wrong with the culture.

Even many of those working in government don't trust government. Several
former employees are suing the government, claiming their rights were
violated by White House use of FBI files. Last week federal District Judge
Royce Lamberth admonished a Clinton lawyer over the White House tardiness in
turning over e-mails.

Such distrust has turned reasonable people into conspiracy theorists.
Producing eyewitnesses and experts who claim that a missile shot down TWA
Flight 800 in 1996, a research group announced last week that it is suing
the FBI and the NTSB to obtain information still being withheld four years
after the disaster. The group comprises researchers, engineers and military
and aviation professionals.

RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK

Perhaps the strongest reason distrust of government persists is this: The
assault against individual rights is gaining ground. From the left and from
the right, a range of Orwellian laws regulates the lives of every
American -- including how they earn money, eat, drink, smoke and associate
with one another. U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, ominously proposed
establishing a government commission on the culture.

Property rights are treated as an antiquated notion by intellectuals,
leaving most Americans with no clue that their property rights are being
obliterated. A supposed lifetime of available government subsidies --
provided one is eligible -- is no substitute for the right to earn and keep
one's property. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has abandoned the defense of
individual rights. Congressional Republicans won't even repeal the gasoline
tax.

As government has encroached on rights, unrest has ensued, leading to unruly
demonstrations in Seattle and Washington, D.C. The state has violated the
rights of peaceful demonstrators -- the Elian demonstrators in Miami were
beaten back during the pre-dawn raid, and a permit for a Freedom for Elian
rally in Boston was rejected in violation of the First Amendment -- while
those who commit violence are practically given the streets.

NOT A PROPER SYMBOL

The Philadelphia City Council's solution to the possible onslaught of chaos
during the Republican National Convention? Ban masks -- and they did,
despite the outcry of a lone councilman who invoked the words of Thomas
Jefferson from the Declaration of Independence. The councilman -- and
Jefferson -- lost.

The Waco siege was never the proper symbol for the dwindling of individual
rights. Danforth's call for candor ignores the fact that candor is not a
virtue unto itself -- candor is meaningless when the government is being
candid about trampling on the rights of each American.

The proper antidote to today's distrust of government is a demand from those
who cherish liberty that government practice the principle that the Founding
Fathers preached: inalienable individual rights.