Anything Amitai Etzioni writes is worth reading. Considered the father of “communitarianism” — an intellectual trend of the past 15 years that has positioned itself against an “individualism” that could not take account of social obligations and the imperatives of communities — Mr. Etzioni specializes in exploring dilemmas such as individual rights versus social obligations, and civil liberties versus security. He never ducks the hard questions. Mr. Etzioni knows that in political life there are multiple goods that may conflict with one another, especially when the crunch comes. The crunch came for Americans on September 11, 2001.