The post-9/11 stagnating malaise

There is a lot of hoopla in this country in the media and elsewhere because it is the looming anniversary of September 11. 9/11. I have very mixed feelings. The event should be memorialized because it was a momentous event in this country. It effected so many people. Nationally and here locally in the New York City metropolitan area. It has changed the way we live in every way from the way we board a plane to the way we discuss terrorism to the way we deal with politics.

Lots of pundits are parsing the meaning, the legacy, the country. They are examining how we have changed. The National Public Radio (NPR) pundits are saying the Republicans asked us to do nothing, to sacrifice nothing. The Fox News Networks say that we are as a country are not patriotic enough, that we are sinking into a cultural decline because we are not Christian enough or Tea-party enough.

I saw, we as a country, are a mess. There is no real leadership from anyone. They (the politicians) are all so short-sighted. They see only the next vote, the need to not compromise so that they can be re-elected. There is no sense of national purpose. No sense of service or sacrifice or greater good. This of course echoes what the NPR pundits are saying. There is a malaise now worse than when Jimmy Carter was president. I am not sure what the future in politics will bring. I do know that 9/11 has not brought us together. It has brought us apart. It has made us more segmented. I wish there were more patriotism and sense of higher purpose. I don't see it happening. At least, not in the forseeable future.