by Patricia Goldsmith

Remember, in those first fragile days and weeks after September 11, 2001, when we told each other again and again that we had to go on with life as usual -- or else they win? We were afraid to go back into the city and face all the flyers on the walls, the National Guardsman in Penn Station; no one wanted to get caught on the subway; some people couldn’t get on an airplane. But we got through it. We may have developed a few quirks, like keeping the gas tank full and always having plenty of duct tape around, but for the most part we’ve gone back to normal life. Or have we? I believe that on the most fundamental level, we have not gone on as usual. With very little public debate of any kind, and with virtually no informed debate, we have abandoned many of our most cherished democratic principles. In the truest sense, and to our increasing national grief, they have won...

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Goldsmith0613.htm