``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 Elián demonstrators in Miami were beaten back during the pre-dawn raid, and a permit for a Freedom for Elián 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.