The National Capital Planning Commission has given preliminary approval to a plan to revise the way tourists approach the Washington Monument. The plan would have visitors entering the monument not through the front doors, but through an underground tunnel.
If this plan reaches fruition, the tunnel would be the only way to reach the monument. Proponents of the measure say it is necessary as part of Washington’s more security-conscious climate. The extra steps will be no different than the stepped-up security checks visitors to the White House must now endure, planners say.
Comparing the construction of a 500-foot-long underground tunnel to a few extra pat-downs by Secret Service agents is dodgy at best and utterly ridiculous at worst. Not only will the tunnel almost certainly cost more than the extra White House security, but it is a less necessary procedure.
The White House is not only the home of the president but a workplace and meeting area for hundreds of top government officials. The Washington Monument, on the other hand, is not the habitual gathering place for anyone of national importance. Certainly, it is visited by thousands of tourists each day – but so are any of the dozens of national monuments in the D.C. area. This landmark should not require a measure of security that is not required of other landmarks, such as the Lincoln or Jefferson memorials.
Another problem with this proposal is its implication it is no longer safe to walk near the monument. Not only does this assumption beg the previous statement about what makes the Washington Monument so special as to require this type of excessive security – it also raises an important question about the way Americans are choosing to live their lives.
Not long after the Sept. 11 attacks, there was a push by government and civilians alike to get back to “normal.” The catchphrase during this period was, “If we don’t continue to live as we always did, then the terrorists will have already won.”
The proposed tunnel is a regression to those few days when Americans were afraid to leave their houses. If the tunnel is built, it could establish a precedent for heightened security by other popular U.S. landmarks, and similar tunnels could be built.
To say that it is unsafe to walk near a beloved national monument is a step backwards. As cliched as it sounds, if the Washington Monument tunnel is built, then the terrorists will have already won.
