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Rememberances

September 11th will never be "Just Another Day" in the same way that the anniversary of Kennedy's assassination is now "Just Another Day", despite the fact that everyone who was alive remembers where they were when they learned of the shooting. But it will eventually depart the forefront of public consciousness, much as the anniversary of Pearl Harbor is no longer a major national event. No one wants to live in the past forever.

But for now, the past is still with us. The White House remains surrounded by barricades and closed to street traffic—the ultimate symbol of fear and the separation it causes between the people and our government—the meaningless color-coded terror alert system is still in place, air travel is close to unfeasible, and so on. All of these symbols are reminders how the 9/11 attacks changed the way many Americans view the world. There's broad agreement that we must change the way we live our lives in this new era, but still profound disagreement about what changes should be made. Therefore we see such polarizing conflicts play out in our national political system, despite the fact that at the end of the day, most of us are interested in the same basic wants and needs—safe streets, good schools for our kids [or grandkids, or hypothetical future kids], and rising standards of living.

In these times, where we don't have the consensus that drove American from the New Deal to the early Civil Rights era (roughly, 1936-1964), it's too easy to think of the political opposition as a demon force that craves power only for the purposes of enacting a sinister agenda. But most voters, even most petitions, are real people simply trying to get by in this world and help make it a little safer, a little smarter, a little more prosperous. Now, campaign season has begun, and there are no rules in this knife fight, and the polarized atmosphere may remain past the November elections. But it will fade away at some point, and our public discourse will once again be a debate about means and not ends. Let's not forget about our opponents' basic humanity in the meantime.

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Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 08:07 14 September 2006