“A moderate facade is necessary to win elections in a generally tolerant nation.”
— Paul Krugman
We do live in a “generally tolerant nation.” Even so, we keep hearing about how Hate Fuels The Terrorist Agenda and The Terrorists Hate Us and The Terrorists Hate What We Stand For. This philosophy is patently silly. To say that terrorism is nothing more than a large scale hate-crime is disingenuous.
However, because “they hate” our freedoms and our democracy, to say nothing of “credible information” that the Department of Homeland Security has but we do not, we are told the Fall elections are at risk. No, I’m not saying the DHS should spill everything they know, but they do rather seem to be The Boy That Cried Wolf. We are told there should be a contingency plan. This has even made the international headlines.
So we “know” roughly when and where an attack will be, but we are unable to stop it? And the terror alert level isn’t red? Don’t get me wrong, even Congress is tired of warnings that say nothing more than LOOK OUT! but doesn’t this warrant upgrading the terror risk level? For that matter, this situation is supposed to make us trust President Bush to keep on task with the War on Terror? Many good things have been said by many smart people about this situation, and I encourage you to read and come to your own conclusion.
But apparently disrupting the election isn’t the only goal of terrorists. The political conventions are at risk too, mostly from domestic anarchists. However, New York City is determined not to allow any incidents. In fact, apartment dwellers near the convention are encouraged not to leave their homes during the convention. They should lay in extra food, carry a government approved photo ID card, use the servants’ entrance — er, I mean the back exit — and not schedule deliveries. I shudder to think what might happen should anyone from these 3000 families need to go to work or have a medical emergency. I’m sorry, this sounds more like a scheme to keep “undesirables” under wraps than a security measure.
Heaven knows apartment dwellers couldn’t possibly want to observe the political process in motion. Right? That doesn’t sound very moderate, let alone tolerant.
In unrelated news, this item at Forbes discusses the fact that over 99% of employers are small businesses, and they generate half our GDP. What is the official Bush Administration prescription for helping small business? Deregulation. Pardon me for pointing out that deregulation allowed mega-banks to form, allowed mega-mergers that left thousands of people unemployed, put multiple airlines out of business, and allowed Enron to happen. If you can figure out how any of these things benefitted small businesses, let me know.