9/10 or 9/12?

Michael Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11 asks, concerning the Bush 43 era, "Was it all just a dream? Did the last four years even happen?" It would be nice to wake up from all this and return to the carefree days of peace dividends, good times, and no worries. But something did happen that tore us away from all that and it wasn't the election of George W. Bush.

Mickey Kaus explicitly makes the argument that four years of Kerry will delay the war for four years. Presumably Al Qaeda will also take a breather. But voting Bush out of office will not end the dangers that confront us.

Kerry is campaigning on his differences with Bush on important issues, such as the economy, jobs, medical care, and US alliances. But Kerry's strategy against Islamofascism consists of police work and legal actions. You know, the strategy that Clinton and every president before him had.

There's no polling on it, but I'd guess that a lot of Americans think that a vote for Kerry is a vote for peace. We've had four years of war and that's enough. We want the peace and quiet that we had on 9/10. What's all this excitement in Iraq and Afghanstan for anyway?

All this wishful thinking is understandable, but it's not supportable. We can't go back to 9/10. We can't pretend that it's 9/10 and forget about what's going to happen tomorrow.

Because while we're yearning for a return to a sleepy 9/10, there are others working hard to repeat or supercede the horrors of 9/11.

For that reason we have to keep our eyes on the future and its dangers. We need to recall what we knew in our bones on 9/12 and not slip back into unconsciousness. WMDs are still a huge danger and the technical ability of states and networks to proliferate them will only grow. Terrorism is still being fomented by failed and rogue states and by failed and rogue ideologies. Genocide is occuring as I write this. And these are all connected.

Do we face these challenges wide awake or go back to sleep? The election ahead will decide which way the US goes. Cold water in the face, or that cozy, warm blanket? 9/10 or 9/12? It's a matter of determining what's real and what's not.