A few years ago we kept hearing that the Internet had changed everything. All the rules were different in the New Economy. You didn’t have to sell products any more, and you could make money by giving away services for free. We know how that worked out. As big and important as the Internet has turned out to be, it didn’t change everything. Nothing changes everything.
For three years now we’ve been letting the Right get away with ignoring common sense by saying “9/11 changed everything.” Kerry was afraid to challenge this assertion in 2004 because he didn’t want to appear to be soft on terrorism. We can’t let that happen in 2008.
What didn’t 9/11 change? Lots of things. The United States still needs allies. The Geneva Convention still makes sense. Imprisoning people without trials is still tyranny. Torture is still wrong. You still need to double-check your intelligence before you start shooting people. Stuff like that. If we take on those issues one-by-one, and let the Right respond with “9/11 changed everything” we’re going to lose.
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