Profiles in Cowardice

Whether you like the messenger or not, here's a message worth hearing:

Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of missiles poised to be launched against us and annihilate our country at a moment's notice? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march-when our fathers fought and won two World Wars?

It is simply an insult to those who came before us and sacrificed so much on our behalf to imply that we have more to be fearful of than they. -- Al Gore, 1/16/2006

To which I say:

We do not have some much to fear as they did, but we are more fearful, and willing to sacrifice liberty for security in a way that our forefathers (and grandfathers) were not.

The way to fight "terror-ism" is to refuse to be afraid. And we, coddled cowards that we are, have failed that test.

What would a BRAVE nation -- one which refused to be cowed, which understood that living well (ie attending to domestic policy) is the best revenge, which treasured its freedom more than it fears a handful of extremists hiding in caves in Pakistan -- what would a nation like that act like?

Not like this.