At the end of June, I spent two weeks in Sweden and Denmark to give a lecture and do library research. It was an extremely pleasant trip with one exception, which I’ll share.

I flew from Kansas City to Newark where I connected to my trans-Atlantic flight. The folks at Newark were, without exception, polite and helpful even though the airport was crowded, the flight was full and it was hot in the terminal. I have absolutely no complaints about the airline or the TSA employees.

On the other hand, I was shocked and outraged, and continue to be so, at the differential treatment accorded to the majority of passengers who flew economy (of whom I was one) and the small number who flew business and first class.

I’m not in the least bothered that business and first-class passengers get preferential seating, food and other perks from the airlines. They pay a substantial amount of money to get such treatment and they’re entitled to it. However, I don’t think anyone should receive preferential treatment when it comes to security.

I was utterly shocked both at Newark on the outward bound flight and at Copenhagen on the return, when I discovered that people holding business and first-class tickets had their own separate security line for screening. At Newark there were six security screening stations to handle a dozen departure gates. But instead of having a single line for the six security positions, there were two lines.

One line, which had several hundred people in it, was for economy passengers. A second line was devoted exclusively to business and first-class passengers. Those in this line were given preferential access to the security screening positions by a TSA official directing people to security stations.

In effect, business and first-class passengers jumped ahead of economy passengers and, while economy passengers had to spend quite a while in line waiting, business and first-class passengers had no wait at all.

Terrorism is a problem for all Americans. We are all being asked to be vigilant and adjust to the new realities of life after Sept. 11. But it would seem that the federal government, the Transportation Safety Administration and the airlines and airports have decided that some passengers can pay to avoid some inconvenience.

To me there’s nothing more undemocratic than this situation. Government services, in my experience, have never been made available more freely to the rich than to the rest of us. I thought the whole idea of a republican form of government was that all citizens were considered to be equal under the law. I suppose that principle has now been modified and now there is a formal policy that some are just a bit more equal than others. Those are the ones who get to jump the line at airports these days.

It’s a trivial thing, perhaps, but it is, in my opinion, quite wrong and Congress ought to do something about it.