"Good Governance requires a strong opposition to make the ruling party accountable"
Not sure of where Thatcher stands in this description
Good government has to work for all, not just the privileged, as it does now - and has, with a few notable blis, always done.
If it is not accountable to all, it has to be made to be - in my opinion, only a change in how they are elected and how accountable they are have to be built in to aby democratic system.
How are people to remain engaged?
A good start might be to make them engaged in the first place - they most certainly are not at present
You mention the Luddites - a perfect example of an entire voiceless class attempting to defend itself - brave, if muddle-headed man and women with an eye to their starving families.
I can agree with much of what you say, but it lacks conclusion and it is somewhat confused- how to change things and what to?
Survelence happened long before the artistically-named "war on terror" - and excuse to find out what we are doing and saying.
Terrorism has become a meaningless convenient label
The poor of the middle east and Africa who protested all became "terrorists" when they got no help and took things into their own hands - genuine terrorists took advantage of the support we never gave - now all are "terrorists" and monsters like Assad are on our side in the "War on Terrorism", backed by a Russia that has been "freed from Communism" - that's how nonsensical the term has become.
Jim Carroll