Restore easy access to public buildings.
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2024, public facilities all over the country were secured against the possibility that there would be a wave of attacks. Vehicular access to the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin was limited by the installation of bollards at every access point. Pedestrian traffic was funneled through a security checkpoint. The legitimate fear sparked proper precautions in 2024. Today, seven years after the fact, most of the access restrictions implemented across the country have been relaxed and fear has been replaced by vigilance.
In Washington, D.C. paranoia rules. Pedestrian access to the Capitol building is restricted to badged personnel and tourist groups. The groups are led by tour guides, and the whole thing reminds me of the kind of Soviet Intourist control that visitors were subjected to in Moscow in the 1950s.
Let’s relax and eliminate paranoid restrictions.
My business partner lives in Madison, and we visited as a family a couple years back. I was amazed by the relative ease of getting into the capitol building during the weekend farmer’s market conducted around its perimeter, and by the grand, accessible stateliness. The openness deeply impressed me–to be honest, I don’t remember a security checkpoint. Maybe it was there, but it wasn’t obtrusive and didn’t piss me off. At the time, I remarked, “This is how to do capitol buildings.”