By Stephen R. Melvin

In 1991, in a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Margaret Thatcher reiterated an old truism: “If you wish for peace, you must be prepared for war.” In any given situation, there seems to be a natural law of balance. Good and Evil, Peace and Destruction, Black and White, Male and Female – these things are all balanced. Sometimes, that balance point is near the middle, and sometimes, there will be a balance closer to one end or the other. Sometimes, things are balanced among more than two points, as in several coalition governments throughout the world or in a three part harmony. Most of the time however, we see a duality. In a completely anarchic society for example, the balance is closer to freedom than to security. In a totalitarian environment, security takes precedence over freedom.

First, let me state that I am not a sociologist, nor have I made an extensive study of the governments and societies of the world. I have however, through personal and professional studies come into contact with a number of historical and modern societies and governments, and I have never once come across a single instance of an open society with closed opportunities, or a closed society with open opportunities. We have a tremendous challenge ahead of us in the modern world.

Like a symphony, every part of a society must fit together.  Should a single part become louder than the others, the piece would not sound as good.  Music can range from the rigid notes as spelled out in a classical music piece to the improvisation of a jazz trio, but in the end, they all have to play together to make the music sound right. It is the place of a good conductor to make sure that the volume and styles are balanced between the different instruments.
Similarly, we have to find a balance between our freedom and security and it is the place of our governmental leaders to find the proper balance. One example that has been in the news recently is a National ID Card. A national ID card might sound good in principle, but how far is it from having a national ID card to requiring that ID card wherever you go?  After that, some bright kid with a computer figures out how to track where you've been using your ID card and it's a very short jump from there to stipulating where you are allowed and what you can do.  On the other hand, we can't just let folks who would try to hurt us run around wherever they want and so our leaders will need to either accept the lack of freedom (if we let them) or come up with another solution. There are many solutions to these problems, and a National ID Card is only one of them, but the debate around it makes it seem as if it is the only solution and without it, we will not have a chance against the terrorists.

Many terrorist organizations would like nothing more than a closed society with strict rules and significant penalties for disobedience of those rules. That's what they are fighting for in their own countries – they just want to be the ones in charge. Once the structure is in place, it will be that much easier to either topple the government or take over by getting your own people elected. From my engineering classes, I know that materials that cannot flex are brittle, and break. Those of us who believe in balance know we as a society need to achieve a balance between the responsibilities of society and the freedoms of the individual. That flexibility is essential in building a society that evolves rather than breaks and is replaced. Only through that balance do we stand a chance of moving forward and accomplishing the great feats we have hitherto been fortunate enough to achieve.