The Gamut

"I'm saying a lot of people's views changed due to 9-11, including George Bush's. Are you saying your's didn't?"

Actually, no, nothing in my core views changed at all. I was already sure that terrorism was more of a danger than the GOP was prepared to acknowledge. I was also sure even before 9/11 that we were doing too little to approach the causes of terrorism at the root. I also knew that nation building was not workable as middle eastern policy.

Beyond that, I was even then of the hope that - as Thomas Paine once said - "the example which ye have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America." I also knew in 2000 that Bush was not then suggesting tax cuts because of the looming recession as there was no looming recession at the time, so I know now that his claim that the tax cuts were and are necessary to bolster the faltering economy is a rationalization and a lie.

I knew that our liberties were what made our country special, and that giving them up was surrendering to our enemies. I knew that dissent was necessary for a strong democracy to remain democratic. I knew that good leaders worked with their opposers to change their hearts rather than slough them off as if they don't matter.

So, no, none of my views have changed since 9/11. But if the only view you had that changed was that you went from thinking that we were safe from terrorism to now thinking that we are at such risk that we should surrender our freedom to be protected by that fool dubya, well, my friend, your views just went from wrong to wronger. And I feel sorry for you.