Sustainable Democracy

It has been six years since September 11th, 2001. In many ways it seems like it has been much longer than that, even if the memory of the tragedy is regularly refreshed. I was still in high school when it happened. I made it to school not very long after the first plane had hit, and witnessed the second hit in one of my school’s computer labs. Now I have graduated from college, lived in Japan, and am making a new move to Boston.

In that time there have been two wars, the bombings in Bali, Madrid, and London, and there have been dozens of terror plots (some that have turned out to have never been plots) defused. America has shifted from a reactive state to a preemptive state. The Right-Wing Conservative Christian movement has gone from being a blip on the radar to getting close to controlling the radar. And we have seen drastic changes in the way many nations view civil liberties and national security.

The amount of media on both sides of the fence about what may have happened on 9/11 is also staggering. No matter what you believe it is extremely hard to go more than a few days without some reminder or tv special about the tragedy. In many ways I believe this constant coverage and rumination is detrimental to our society.

9/11 was indeed an event that has and will continue to shape our nation and many others. But the unrelenting use of the event and its victims has almost become a macabre ritual. The basis of your politics is now centered on this event as a US citizen. It is almost dangerous to attempt to focus political debate on any issue not directly related to 9/11 if you are seeking a political career. The old notion of “America the Great” has seemingly been replaced by “America, the 9/11 Nation”.

We should all remember the event. It should never be forgotten. But it should not become the banner by which we represent our nation.