The solution of the problem of terrorism is not the relaxation of necessary security, either for public offials or private citizens. The solution is the resolve to stop terrorists and terrorism--immediately, certainly, and permanently.
We have the ability.
We also have a brilliant, courageous, puissant and highly capable leader, President Bush.
Your pessimism will vanish and your lamentations cease once you accept these obvious facts and place your full support behind President Bush and the war that the United States is waging--dispite all our wishes to the contrary--against fanatic Islamic aggression, war, and terrorism.
These terrorists and their supporters have declared war against the United States. Our refusal to wage war against them will not make them stop waging war against us.
You and John Chipman are quite right. The massacre of September 11, 2001, was indeed "terrorism not meant to stimulate political concessions but to destroy our way of life"--a "way of life" that includes liberty, equality, and justice for all people--and that is unquestionably superior to the hideous "way of life" that they are attempting to impose--by force--upon us and all of the people of the world!
The answer is not mindless bravado and the reckless ignoring of important security measures.
The answer is swift, certain, and resolute destruction of the perpetrators, their supporters, their support systems, and their hopes of ever achieving their evil goals.
Keep in mind that the massacre was an attack on the U.S. by an enemy power. War is our only option. It is a defensive war, and we must win it. Resolve is our only means of winning.
So can your pessimism, set aside your lamentations, forget about mindless lapses of security, and place the full force of your resources, resolve, and commitment behind President Bush and the war effort. Become part of the solution--not the problem.