The American Spectator

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(Page 6 of 13)

Perhaps Mr. Orlet might read -- or reread -- all of Philip Klein's Aug. 25, 2006, TAS article, "No Terrorism To See Here, "especially the third-from-last paragraph: "The further we get from Sept. 11th, the more temptation there will be to become complacent in the face of the terrorist threat. In fact, this is precisely why terrorism presents such a unique danger and why it is much more effective at dividing our country than more conventional threats we have faced."

Those conventional threats could include, I suppose, "overblown" books that suggest that terrorism is no big deal and that alarms are politically motivated?

p>And speaking of political motivation, perhaps America and the world might not be in this particular predicament if the administration and president that preceded the current ones had mustered the courage to confront terrorism -- and real attacks on sovereign American property and Americans -- with something other than legal briefs. br> -- C. Kenna Amos br> Princeton, West Virginia /p>

One has only to read Bruce Catton's depiction of Union soldiers panicked at First Bull Run by an imaginary corps of "black horse cavalry," or H.L. Mencken's acid commentary on the hysteria over imminent Spanish invasion in 1898, to realize that a case of the willies is nothing new to Americans in troubled times.

The new twist this time is that there were many more people ready to exploit the alarm, and turn it into Federal programs and Federal laws that suited their books and filled their wallets. But we're stuck with it all as far as I see, even if it is a useless charade, by and large, even if it does more harm than good. I agree that hiring some cluster of mulletheads to paw through my underwear at the airport does nothing to catch Bin Laden -- but not even Dennis Kucinich would be bold enough to suggest we fire them and get rid of the almost-strip-searches. There's too much "supplementary" Federal funding in it, for one thing. For another, who would dare be wrong?

As Mencken also said, "the average man doesn't want to be free. He wants to be safe."

p>Unfortunately, he's right. br> -- Martin Owens br> Sacramento, California /p>

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