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Saturday, Sept. 15, 2001 -- NEW YORK (APJP)
The reality that nothing is the same and nothing will be is sinking in for many Americans.
Great Britain felt something similar to what we feel now some sixty years ago, yet Winston Churchill boldly proclaimed to his nation and the world that what was to come would be his nation's "finest hour."
This last Tuesday, it took an act of audacious barbarism and unconscionable brutality -- an act committed by people who hate us -- to change everything for America. Everything stopped in its tracks as live television instantaneously transmitted images of atrocity upon atrocity to a shocked and appalled world.
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were vicious -- and evil. They were cynically calculated to do more than hurt us; they were intended to turn us one upon the other, to spontaneously divide us as we succumbed to fear and hate, to trigger knee-jerk reactions that would subvert everything the United States of America stands for, to turn us into Arab-hating bigots -- to break the backbone of our principles as blatantly as they smashed the steel core of the Twin Towers.
The parties that perpetrated this crime against America hate us for two reasons.
First, America is wealthy, strong and influential -- over two and a quarter centuries, the United States has been a spawning ground for technological, financial, manufacturing and marketing innovation, creating wealth that has in turn created the most powerful defense force in history. The last decade has been particularly fruitful -- we are more prosperous and powerful than ever thanks to eight years of President Bill Clinton's leadership. The business of America, as Clinton well knows, is indeed business.
Those who planned and commanded the acts of carnage not only envy what those businesses have done; they hate the fruit of our prosperity, the most powerful military force in the world's history. They are not alone in their hatred of America, which has aided and abetted too many unscrupulous, totalitarian "allies" to attack their own citizens, people often living in appalling conditions that most Americans, even our poor, cannot begin to imagine.
Sadly, many of the assaults America has facilitated, ranging from passive-aggressive embargoes to overt intervention, have been committed for reasons that in the end are difficult if not outright impossible to justify. Often the excuse was "stopping the spread of communism", when in fact neo-"Marxism" and control-economy socialist states were a complete failure and could not stand no matter their size or power. These nations had choices ranging from extensive reform to collapse in a paroxysm of civil violence, often fueled by long-suppressed ethnic hatreds. The enormous failure by American leadership and intelligence to grasp this truth -- or their decision to blithely ignore it to placate political interests even after the truth was obvious -- resulted in a human rights record, especially in this hemisphere, that no American can be proud of.
But compare that to the values of those organizations and governments that are being scrutinized as the most likely suspects in the attacks of Tuesday.
These values include a closed society without a free press or Internet, an "education" system that force-feeds a perverted and evil version of a belief system, a culture that blithely abuses and enslaves women and children, a political hierarchy that brooks no dissent, demands obedience, and rewards fanatical violence, reinforcing it with promises of Instant Paradise.
And that's just for starters.
It also leads us to the second reason they loathe us as a nation and even individually: despite the fact that to a large extent business interests call the shots day to day, we are a free and amazingly open society. We debate ideology, political and social philosophy, even elements of religious faith, freely -- and do so with little fear. Never forget that by the standards of our 21st century enemies, the most reactionary conservative writers and domestic political propagandists, be they Bill O'Reilly, Chris Ruddy, and, yes, even the late Barbara Olson, are liberal -- and deserve death.
It is our freedoms, our openness to new ideas and our desire to think, rethink and reinvent our culture that those who attack our country most fear, knowing full well that rational, critical thinking and free inquiry is potentially more destructive than the armed might of the United States of America.
But this freedom also brings a palpable danger for misuse; we must avoid at all costs the temptation to succumb to shallow, reactionary jingoism in time of anger, to allow "rallying 'round the flag" to mushroom into ethnic and religious prejudice. Our flag, after all, is not a sacred object of worship but a symbol that identifies us as proud American citizens. Our nation is not a piece of cloth -- our nation is a republic whose interlocking foundation is the Constitution and its amendments, including the defining Bill of Rights.
And it is these two indivisible components of our society -- the Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- that are the model for the rest of the free world and the envy and aspiration of so many, including citizens of nations suspected of having harbored the thugs who unleashed the carnage on Tuesday.
One of the most articulate defenses of our civil liberties came from an unexpected source during the middle of the week; in his syndicated column, Rush Limbaugh practically earned an honorary lifetime membership in ACLU when he wrote, "If you think that the proper response is to ratchet down freedom because of this, if you think that it's worth trading a little freedom in order for security, you must work hard to banish that thought. The exact opposite is what needs to be our motivating attitude. This nation must reaffirm its freedoms." Of course, that includes the second amendment (at least the NRA's court-rejected "definition") -- but his words apply to the entire Bill of Rights.
Make no mistake: we have every reason and right to be angry. The world now has more than ample justification for seeking and carrying out retribution against the criminals still at large who planned, financed, and harbored accomplices in these acts of barbarism.
But we must protect our freedoms -- including and especially that to criticize or concur, question or agree, and freely share our analysis, opinions, and conclusions. This was an attack not only on our nation's shared values but those of all freedom-loving people. If, as George W. Bush is now saying, the world should go to war against murderous terrorist groups and states, we must do so and defend without sacrificing our cherished freedoms one whit.
And if we can do that, we shall prove the true strength of our nation and people, and witness the growth of freedom worldwide.
Indeed, it shall be our finest hour.
Copyright © 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, American Politics Journal Publications, Inc.
