We don't want to be the place where birds don't fly

St. Louis Post=Dispatch ^ | 06/04/2005 | Thomas Freidman

[rwa265]

This is an Excerpt

A few years ago, my youngest daughter participated in the National History Day program for eighth graders. The question that year was "turning points" in history, and my daughter's project was "How Sputnik Led to the Internet." I worry that 20 years from now, some eighth grader will be doing her National History Day project on how America's reaction to 9/11 unintentionally led to an erosion of core elements of American identity.

---------------

Bottom line: We urgently need a national commission to look at all the little changes we have made in response to 9/11 - from visa policies to research funding, to the way we've sealed off our federal buildings, to legal rulings around prisoners of war - and ask this question: Could it all add up in a way so that 20 years from now we will discover that some of America's cultural and legal essence - our DNA as a nation - has become badly deformed or mutated?

[rwa265]

Doesn't Mr. Freidman realize we are in the midst of a war against terrorism? And that hundreds, if not thousands, of madmen are plotting to cause a greater disaster than 9/11?

The bottom line for me is that in 20 years from now we will have won that war and will not need to suffer all the inconveniences that cause Mr. Friedman so much concern.

[muawiyah]

Almost all federal buildings are operated as USPS facilities of one kind or the other. They've been "sealed off" for the most part from easy public access for a century and a half.

The biggest round of "hardenings" occurred in the 1920s when the country found itself under siege by leftwing mad bombers.

All this Friedman character could possibly be talking about are a few of the "external" truck barriers put in place around government buildings that also serve as "monuments" or representatives of institutions.

[Abcdefg]

I can't think of a single government investigating committee that wasn't a participant to cover up.

[LibFreeOrDie]

"...America's reaction to 9/11 unintentionally led to an erosion of core elements of American identity. ... Bottom line: We urgently need a national commission to look at all the little changes we have made in response to 9/11 ... and ask this question: Could it all add up in a way so that 20 years from now we will discover that some of America's cultural and legal essence - our DNA as a nation - has become badly deformed or mutated?"

He can have his commission only if I can have a similar commission to investigate the real damage already done to this country by the Left.

[Publius6961]

Well, I have strong concerns, similar to Mr. Friedman's, but I suspect for a different, perhaps opposite, reason.

I think that it is morally and rationally preferable to exclude totally and permanently a few hundred thousand undesireables from muslim countries, than grossly and permanently inconvenience 300,000,000 citizens and turn our country into an armed, paranoid, repressive camp, identical to the muslim's home countries.

[TADSLOS]

Freidman needs to do some research on the sacrifices made circa 1942-1945. I don't think we lost anything by what had to be done then, certainly not the war.

[downwithsocialism]

I think that it is morally and rationally preferable to exclude totally and permanently a few hundred thousand undesireables from muslim countries, than grossly and permanently inconvenience 300,000,000 citizens and turn our country into an armed, paranoid, repressive camp, identical to the muslim's home countries.

I couldn't have said it better.

[Arthur McGowan]

Freidman needs to do some research on the sacrifices made circa 1942-1945. I don't think we lost anything by what had to be done then, certainly not the war.We didn't????? Ever hear of the withholding tax???? It was a "temporary" measure imposed in 1942. They PROMISED it would end when the war ended. Funny, they never got around to it. The fact is that there has been a longstanding law-enforcement establishment that has wanted to batten this country down under a rigid, all-powerful national police regime for a long time. They are getting item after item on their wish list, in order to fight "terror." I agree with those who favor excluding large numbers of Muslims from other countries, and all illegal aliens, and maintaining more of the freedoms American citizens have a right to enjoy.

[Names Ash Housewares]

Our reaction to 9-11 will gurantee his daughter will not have to fight a war of several orders of magnitude larger in the future. We fight today so they wont have to tomorrow.

[Firefigher NC]

Well we gotta be careful that we don't accidentally turn America into a police state in our efforts to make ourselves more secure. Politicians don't mind grabbing more power, especially when people nod their heads and smile. Just one of those things you gotta watch out for.

[RedRover]

In his hysteria, Friedman misses the point. The title of his daughter's assignment is "How Sputnik Led to the Internet." Get it, Tom? It's unpredictable.
In the late 1950s, the Soviets launched Sputnik and (many of us believed) could and would hit us with missiles. Instead (thanks to Reagan, Scoop Jackson, and other patriots), the Soviet Union is gone.
Could anyone, in 1957, have predicted that Sputnik would lead to the Internet?
As we spend money now on technology to fight terrorism, can anyone predict what technological discoveries lay ahead?
There are consequences, intended and not intended, from any action. It is the character of a nation that determines where those consequences lead.
I place my faith in the American people to determine our future. Not a panel of hand-wringing, fault-finding, nitpicking elitists.