We need Dan Rather back. Somebody needs to have the guts and foresight to speak to the American people and tell us, "Courage."
Franklin Roosevelt told us in the face of adversity that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." To me, too young to remember Roosevelt who died before I was born in the fearful 1950's, those were only words. But now I understand. Because as I reach next month the age Roosevelt was when he spoke those words, I see what fear itself can do to a free people. Fear is taking away from us voluntarily what no nation on earth could take from us by force of arms.
It would be easy to blame this on politicians. Certainly, there have been few if any who have stood with courage in the face of the shock of 9/11 and said "We will always be the country we are today. Free, prosperous and generous under the consent of the governed and the protections of our Constitution." Instead, fear leads them to restrictions on our freedom, support of international policies where "opposition to terrorism", much like "anti-Communism" once was, is more important that freedom in choosing friends and allies and excuses to violate the Constitution rather than embrace it.
But politicians could not do that without the implicit support of the American people. We no longer stand, we cower. When a sniper shot and killed several people in the Washington, DC area, people were afraid to go to gas stations, even though the pumps were more likely to explode due to lightening than they'd be targeted by the sniper. Today, people accept that policemen, without probable cause, in a public place, can search their bag and prevent them from proceeding if they do not comply. They accept "Big Brother" like cameras peering at them from light poles and buildings as they do not more than travel in their daily routine.
I said earlier that politicians were cowering in fear, but it is as much fear of being considered "soft on terrorism" by their fearful constituents, costing them an election, as it is fear of the terrorists themselves.
It is time for our elected officials to be better than that.
It is time for we, the electors of those officials, to demand it of them.
It is time for Courage, or fear itself will do what bombs could not.
