Politics is becoming ever more like a marketplace. Novelty rather than deliberation becomes the currency of political life. And not surprisingly, people keep changing the channel. Kenneth Starr, alas, is no unique inquisitor. Recent laws and court decisions expand the reach of searches and seizures.
Judges lock up uncooperative witnesses indefinitely.
Immigration officials regularly practice a form of summary justice. Intimate diaries are now fair game for official fishing expeditions. And there is far too little public indignation. We could lose it in a weird jumble of civic decay and police excess that we don't even notice because we are so preoccupied with the phone company's latest rate plans. Readers may redistribute this article to other individuals for noncommercial use, provided that the text and this notice remain intact.