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PREPARING FOR A NEW WAR ... AND A NEW AMERICA
September 11, 2001 9:43 PM

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

Note: A nationwide poll released Wednesday September 12th, 2001, the day after this was written, indicated that 66-percent of Americans would give up freedoms if it meant more security.