Fact: The pure profit motive that guided the airlines’ security policies made it possible for hateful fanatics to murder thousands of unsuspecting people in this year of our lord, Two Thousand and One.
Perhaps the regulatory hand of "Big Government" is not so bad after all. The publicity machine of the right wing told us it was wrong for the government to interfere with the obvious wisdom of hugely successful corporations. We turned a blind eye to one of the last century’s most important lessons: In a truly capitalist society, we must have mechanisms in place to protect us from ourselves. Never before have we paid such a price for a misplaced allegiance. And ironically (yes, irony still exists) we will now have Big Government bigger than our wildest dreams. One that taps our phones, searches our cars and spies on our hard drives. And one that sends our children off to die on the other side of the world.
Just a short time ago, we thought that all future wars would be antiseptic like the Gulf War- All video games and CNN. Now, however, we are faced with the possibility of seeing large numbers of young Americans die in a ground war in almost uninhabitable terrain and against people capable of unconscionable acts, even in the field of war. The last generation who came close to experiencing what our soldiers are about to experience are now in their fifties. No generation since the Civil War faced the threat of danger at home that we now face. We are shaken and angry because what seemed to be completely reliable realities have been taken away from us. We were sure that the World Trade Center would be standing tomorrow. Those thousands of wealthy, successful, vibrant people who went to their offices that Tuesday morning would certainly be coming home that evening. We were sure that nobody, no matter how demented, could fly a plane into the Pentagon. After all, we are the world’s Only Superpower (as long as you don’t count China and who wants to wake THEM up?) Surely some ultra sophisticated ground to air defense that we don’t even know about is in place to protect our nation’s military headquarters. We always seemed to be spending enough money for that kind of thing.
Well, that was then and this is now. We now start each day with the skittish fact that we are vulnerable anytime and anywhere to people who do not play by any rules and wish only to kill us. Our government deserves credit and praise for not making a knee-jerk reaction of immediate massive retaliation. While many of us understandably went into "Don’t Tread On Me" mode, we did not swing wildly in the general direction of our attackers. Our restraint possibly foiled the terrorists’ larger goal to incite a multi-country Holy War. If history has proven anything, it’s that if you want to kill people on an earth-shaking scale, a holy war is the way to go. I think Bin Laden and his group thought they had a good chance of this happening. Our Congress was hopelessly divided in a 50/50 split. Our president entered office in the most inauspicious fashion imaginable and, as an extra bonus, we was the son of a former scourge of the Middle East. One that already had a proven track record of waging war in the Gulf. And one who was already on first name basis with all the major players, terrorist and statesman alike.
Well, they weren’t counting on our ace in the hole. Secretary Of State Colin Powell has emerged from this entire situation towering above all others. Possessing the hands-on attention to detail of Bill Clinton along with the single-minded determination of Ronald Reagan, Powell has been the only one capable of holding a press conference to field specific questions and answer them without simply resorting to flag-waving cowboy rhetoric like "smoke ‘em out" and "wanted dead or alive" or, worst of all, "crusade". That said, let’s praise our President for hitting the mark as well as he has. As in his campaign, he reaps the benefits of easy to exceed low expectations and that’s okay. His address to Congress and the nation was a success. It was well written and even he seemed proudly surprised at his ability to deliver the words without tripping over them. Well done.
However we felt about President George W. Bush, that was then and this is now. It is essential to everyone’s safety and well being that the United States puts forth a united front. Liberals, conservatives, people of all races and religions must re-prioritize individual concerns and concentrate on making this great country the most powerful, intelligent and compassionate entity on earth. Our substantial and numerous divisions will all be addressed sometime in the future when, we all pray, they will seem important again.
-Neil Hauser
