| PREPARING
FOR A NEW WAR ... AND A NEW AMERICA
There's no way to express the horror we've all
felt at hearing reports of the human devastation in the terrorist
destruction of the World Trade Center towers.
Terrorists won this round. America lost. It's
the dawn of a new era in the Western world.
There is no reason to place blame unless such
blame is reasonable and effective in preventing terrorism in the
future.
The terrorists who planned and executed this
horrific attack are responsible. But so are others.
So let's place blame: The FAA has not done its
job. There are major holes in the US airport security systems. This,
in favor of the market-friendly view of hassle-free business and
carefree vacation air travel. But that's bound to change again, even
as it's changed notably in the past 10 years.
The record of TV news reporters sending
undercover crews with hidden video cameras to penetrate airport
security is abysmal. They've proven that its all too easy for the
unauthorized to board flights.
The US intelligence community has failed its
own people. There are small indications that government officials
had some warning that something big was about to happen to national
security, but there was no national warning of imminent
threat.
US leadership, especially under former
President Bill Clinton, essentially ignored the persistent threat of
terrorism by the likes of Osama bin Laden and terrorist sponsors
like Iran, Iraq and other nations. This, too, failed America. The
Clinton administration occasionally warned of the importance of the
terrorism threat, but did little in beefing up security and the
military to answer such proverbial attacks on the US. Talk with
little action -- that was the essence of the Clinton years.
Congress, without adequate vision, has let
America down by not taking a closer look at the potential of terror
-- nor have they had the political will -- to revise their views and
their constituents' view of the immense threat of terrorism.
And of course there's Osama bin Laden, the man
who reportedly has enough money and enough fanatics at his disposal
to hurl unwarranted violence at his stated enemy -- the "Great
Satan," the "Friend of Israel" -- the United States,
in the manner that hurt America September 11th, 2001. He must be
destroyed, as must all the cowardly people who commit suicide for
political reasons, psychotically destroying thousands of people,
hundreds of thousands of lives and portions of civilizations
along the way.
Hindsight is easy; foresight is tough -- and
essential.
What now?
A resurgence of Americanism. Not isolationism
by any means.
In the rise and fall of civilizations, there
is always a point at which historians can determine the beginning of
that decline.
That point has not been reached in American
yet. Despite talk and worry about the nation's decline, it's still
The Great Nation, the last bastion of the Enlightenment.
Despite watching our leaders wreck their
personal lives with peccadilloes while blatantly lying to the
people, despite sitting back while decadence ruled during some of
the '80s and all of the '90s, despite political broken promises on
all sides, despite slowly increasing acceptance of deviate sexual
behavior, despite increasing fears of a government out of control,
there are still signs that, though the nation appears to have lost
its way, America is not on the decline.
The hearts of so very many go out to the
families of victims in the devastating destruction of the World
Trade Center.
The resolve of so many goes to the heart of
justice that must be found after the unthinkable terrorist attacks
against the US over the past 30 years, culminating in this morning's
numbing horror.
"Unthinkable" to Americans, who are
generally a gentle, kind people who value life and freedom, no
matter how harsh their rhetoric or manner or demeanor.
There is a new war, just like the old wars,
just like World Wars I and II -- a war against those who kill. This
"new" war may have begun this morning.
There is no reason to believe that the United
States isn't the same America that helped win those two wars. And
there is every reason to believe the resolve shown during those wars
will resurface in the next few weeks and months, with a realignment
of priorities, a stronger sense of the value of freedom that we have
for so long taken for granted, and a renewed belief that fools -- no
matter how clever -- cannot threaten the freedoms that are at the
heart of the US.
But then there is the toll, besides the
heart-wrenching, devastating loss of tens of thousands of lives
brought by the September 11th World Trade Center destruction. There
will be the trading of freedoms for the overall security of the
nation.
Airports could be nationalized, to bring their
security under federal control.
Borders could remain closed indefinitely,
because there are more unchecked immigrants than just the
impoverished Mexicans who fight their way across. There are
terrorists among us.
A resurgence of governmental control even as
our president and portions of Congress and the majority of Americans
rage against the ever-growing governmental bureaucracy, could mean a
resurging fear of fascism.
As the population of the US continues to grow,
so do problems of managing such a large number of people. Already,
political concerns are out of control, as the past ten years have
shown: hardcore, hard-knuckle politics wrongly has outstripped
statesmanship.
But are we willing to give up more freedoms
for the national good?
Only in wartime. And this is war. Giving up
freedoms for the national good...an old philosophic argument that
rings true as any civilization renews itself for battle. That must
be the new national topic, among others.
I call on Americans not to target American
Arabs for derision.
I call on anyone who can to buy US stocks and
to do so right away. A strong national showing on the stock markets
is important now. A huge selloff, and the resulting continuing
economic decline, is the last thing the US needs in the wake of the
New York and Washington devastation.
I call on everyone to stock their food
cabinets and gas up their cars just to make themselves feel better,
but remember this is still the safest nation in the world and
supplies are plentiful and this is not the beginning of the new
depression. Then relax for a minute, and remember the lives lost.
It's not the beginning of the end. It's the
beginning of a new beginning, a realignment of priorities, a snap
from the Old America to The New, more prepared United States of the
21st century. A better America, with the enemies of freedom again
our adversaries.
The old fights about special interest
issues, the political demagoguery of interest groups such as the
elderly and Baby Boomers and Generation Xers should end. The
interest of American citizens as a whole should emerge, ending the
overwhelming infighting politicians have been indulging in, ending
the tolerance of incompetence at high levels.
And it's a time for a new Individualism in the
great American tradition in which the cancerous elitist,
mind-numbing, thought-controlling fascism of "political
correctness" must end.
It's the virtual realignment of America for
the first portion of the 21st century reality.
Russia is no longer our biggest enemy. China
threatens but needs us. The Middle East is volatile but always has
been and always will be. The European Union is gathering but there
is yet little momentum.
It's left to the United States, still the
world's leader.
This is a time to be proud. Not the insolent
pride religions decry, but the time to be proud that we are
descendents of Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Paine,
Franklin, Jackson and Reagan.
There is deep pain the nation. Thousands are
dead and we grieve with heartbroken confusion and anger. Their
deaths must not be in vain. We will learn and move forward and
remember them forever.
America and freedom are undiminished.
There are great obstacles ahead, but the
democratic process -- and the unyielding will of free people -- will
see the Republic through.
-- Mike Shiloh
Editor, TheLatest.Net |
