9/11, 6 years later

An act of war such what was perpetrated on 9/11 should have been more than enough to galvanize the people to fight back. Americans are known (and sometimes hated) for their "can do" attitude, and their resolve. This can no longer be the case.

It seems that most Americans had their anger at the 9/11 attacks redirected, and placated.

Instead of being angry at the man who orchestrated the attacks, we were told that we should blame the president's administration. That our president and vice president were the ones who mismanaged everything, and overextended their reach, and caused this to happen. That we should hate George Bush and Dick Chaney, because they said so.

Instead of being angry at the group that orchestrated the attacks, we were told that we should blame ourselves. That we were the ones who brought this upon ourselves by sending aid to countries that other countries didn't like. That we were the bully of nations, and that we got what we deserved. This perversion of ideas didn't come from some other country, this came from within our population, and even from within our government.

Instead of being angry at the extremists who orchestrated the attacks, we were told that we should blame our own government, because they were the ones who murdered thousands of Americans, and they did it so they could start a war and give money to their friends.

The sport of blaming the victim has been rising in this country of late.

But with all that blame going around, we barely had enough for the people who needed it; us.

We allowed our resolve to be distracted, dissuaded, and divided. The threats against our country were marginalized by many even after 9/11. Blame was tossed around like a hot potato. But for every shrill cry, handful of mud slung, finger pointed, political advantage sought, and agenda driven, only the tiniest percentage of effort was placed on actually destroying the perpetrators of the heinous crime that everyone was talking about without actually talking about.

Instead of being a nation of action, we've been hobbled from the top down. We've taken our national interests, and submitted them for the approval of a conglomeration of nations that couldn't pick their collective nose without losing a finger.

We've allowed this country to become a nation of apology, appeasement, and anticlimax.

All in the name of partisanship.

Not the old kind of partisanship that which argued "I feel your direction for America is the wrong one.", this new kind of partisanship which argues "You don't agree with me, so you are evil and I will stop at nothing to destroy you." Politicians fell over each other to personally attack their opponents with privately funded organizations, private eyes, and cash prizes for proof of personal problems. Anyone who did not march in lock-step was the enemy, no distinctions were made. Anger, hate, and vendettas were the new political arena.

The only thing that saved this nation was the resolve of our president who knew that if we sat on our hands and debated action, it would result in no action. No other leader had the stomach to do what he did, and to power through the voices of the detractors denouncing, disparaging, and demanding. When everyone around him faltered, floundered, and fell, he was firm. He has suffered greatly for it, but I am confident that history will remember him positively.

I think we're through the worst of it, and I think people are starting to get their resolve back, but one more thing still has to happen before we return to our former strength;

...the next attack.

The next attack will solidify and unite the nation. It will tell the people that 9/11 was not a fluke, and that there are people in the world who want them, their children, their neighbors, and their coworkers dead. Americans will understand that these people don't want to talk about who's on who's land, or sending aid to this guy or that guy, they just want non-muslims to die. I hope that when this happens people will get over their borrowed personal hatred of George Bush they were told to carry. Otherwise the cycle will start again until he leaves office.

So I wait in anticipation and anxiety for the reunification of America.

In the meantime, head over to DI's place and remember. Remember the loss, the sorrow, the hate, the tears, the anger, and most of all, remember the resolve.