Column Fodder: Questioning the Fear

I keep hearing a phrase that's being used to justify many, many things. The phrase changes from time to time, but it roughly goes like this: If you're not supporting this, you're un-American. Sometimes the phrase is also used like this: Well, if we don't do this, then we open ourselves up for another attack.

Yesterday we got two different messages, neither one was welcomed by me. First we got Osama Bin Laden, or whoever passes for him these days, deciding to revel in the anniversary and send a little message of hate out. On the other-hand, we have President Bush stating that we have to toughen anti-terroism laws. Both were using the anniversary to push their own agendas. This of course, has been going on for the last two years.

I'll admit it, I voted for Bush. I'm a Republican-leaning guy, but I find myself leaning farther and farther away when I see the whole Republican agenda moving to the Christian Right. I voted for Republicans to be fiscally responsible and to keep the size of government down. Unfortunately this latest group has only worked to increase deficits and make government larger and more intrusive. The way they've done this is through fear.

We live in a relatively free society. We live in a capitalist society. Neither one is totally true. There's restrictions and laws that prevent you from taking certain actions. For the good of society we make rules, even some that are routinely abused, like the speed limit and music "sharing". There's several regulations, restrictions and programs that keep us from being a totally caveat emptor society. Still, we aren't socialist. There's a certain amount of risk that you have to be able to withstand.

Everyday we take a new risk. I drive to work everyday, and I have to worry about my driving as well as the driving of many, many other people. Car companies have worked to make my drive safer with indicators, seat-belts, brakes and such. They've also worked to put safety features in in case of a crash. They don this in anticipation of a crash. The risk is tolerable, but there. If there was no risk, there would be no need.

This is the argument of many who look for more safety from our government. They saw the September 11th attacks two years ago and saw the sky falling. Since the attacks aren't something that you can exactly take in your own hands and do something about, we looked to the government for leadership. for a bit, we seemed to get it. The problems came with the over-reactions that occurred later.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not arguing against the wars that we've waged since that day. I actually think the Afghanistan actions were justified. The war in Iraq I think is really unrelated to the September 11th attacks. there's completely different reasons for that, and unfortunately our President doesn't seem to be able - or willing to truly articulate that. The war in Iraq went well, but the rebuilding of both countries has been slow and violent. There doesn't seem to be a real cohesive strategy on how to get these countries on their feet.

And now I've done it. I've questioned our tactics and wondered if we're putting our troops in trouble. I'm totally un-American. On Sean Hannity's radio show last night I actually heard the host tell a caller that the Democratic candidate's debate was causing harm to our troops in Iraq as they questioned the continuation and the success of the current policing of the country. Because they weren't getting complete support form all Americans at home, because those who were questioning were bringing down morale, then we were causing irreparable harm.

I have to believe that our troops, who have no part in what our governmental officials decide, are much stronger than that. They are trained and professional, and doing a job that most of us would never care to be involved with. I don't think that the words of a politician should ever be taken that seriously, anyway.

You can't argue with security, can you? Too many people in this country are running scared, and the people at the top have been feeding it. You want to be secure, right? You don't want the terrorist attacks to come again, do you? Of course not, but again, there's certain risks that we take in life. We take a risk that people aren't going to like us. We take a risk that people might actually want to hurt us. We take reasonable precautions. I don't walk in the fifth ward of Houston after dark. This is a reasonable thing for me, a white, gay male to do.

But I still walk around my apartment complex at night. Sure, there's people here that I think could come out and hurt me, but I take a reasonable risk here. I'm not going to hide and cower in fear in my apartment all night long because I have the possibility of being harmed.

So we have the president wanting to put further restrictions on us. We have congress passing the Patriot Act, one of the most intrusive laws against your right to privacy ever. We have a reactionary law that has put together an airport security group thats costly and intrusive. We have an entire new government department that was unnecessary and expensive. (Homeland security could have been done by actually using the information and the security departments that already exist.)

So here we are. People two years later are questioning what has been done. Did we make the right choices on how to deal with ourselves in a post 9/11 world? Did the wave of patriotism allow us to be used? Can we truly be the beacon of hope and freedom and hope for the world when we run around scared, and chastised for even thinking that we aren't on the right path?

We are an open society, we take that for granted, but fear is allowing us to accept measures that would have been questioned before. We're targeted by others for being open, free, decadent and rich. These are things that will keep others looking with us with disdain. We can't be everything for everyone, but we can't allow this to keep us from living life in the same way we have. Will there be more terrorism in this country? Certainly. We should do what's reasonably prudent to do to keep us safe, but we also have to be able to take a on little risk.

We need to look seriously at what is happening, and not be afraid to use our deeply American right to be able to ask those questions freely and openly. There's no shame in it.