(forgive the rambling. I'm mad as hell. I want this done, more than i want it done perfect.)
All weekend and especially on Monday, I have listening to the TV and reading the blogs here on Dkos. There is one line, one phrase which I despise hearing above all others:
"9/11. The day that changed America. Forever!"
Oh Gods I hope not!
I don't want this America. I don't want a government that I can no longer trust with my privacy, my army, or my taxes.
I am spied on constantly, or so I think. No one knows for sure. I want for people to be able to state their religion without cringing. I don't want "separate but equal" lines at the airport.
My army and my National Guard have been stretched and thinned so that they can no longer protect me or help me in a natural disaster.
And my taxes, oh my taxes! Money is gone. Money is spent without knowing where it went, to whom it went, or even what I paid for! There is no accountability now.
Every time I ask the government, "Where is this?" "What happened here?" I get this "Sorry. Can't tell you, it's a national secret!"
All this because of 9/11? My answer is "NO!"
I want that pre-9/11 mindset. I want to be able to go from the ticket counter in an airport straight to the plane. And I want to take my water with me.
I want to hear the truth from our newscasters, not lies dictated by beautiful talking heads according to some fashion! If it takes newscasters to look ugly in order to report the truth, GIVE ME UGLY! The truth is often ugly, so why not ugly talking heads!
What I want most of all is my country back. Back to the way it was. Back to being the loving, caring, everyone looks up to us, kind of a country that it was before 9/11.
The world has changed only because we fought them. All of them. If we had stayed home and buried and mourned our dead we would have had a clearer head for all this. We could have calmed down and thought about bringing the attackers and only the attackers to justice. Thought about where we were going more.
But this America, this 9/11 America, didn't give us a chance. It is a mean, vengeful, hateful America that has eaten its fill of soldier and civilian alike. This isn't the America I knew, the one with the pre-9/11 mindset. That America was caring, loving and loved among the nations of the world.
Yes, we got hit. We had our pants down and those nineteen people, terrorist if you will, got lucky. There are mean, hateful, vengeful people out there, but that doesn't mean we need to become one of them.
I want my nation back with my pre-9/11 mindset. America may not be #1 in the world, but we were most loved. And I will prefer being loved to being #1 any day.
My America did not change forever on that day, because we will change it back!