Osama's Legacy

"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed."

When I look at the new reality in our country---that many people seem okay with all their phone calls and online communications being tracked and whistleblowers like Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden are called "traitors"---I can't help but feel that Osama bin Laden accomplished his goals with the attacks of 9-11. He wanted to instill fear in our hearts and change our lives and society, and those attacks seem to have done just that. He wanted to turn us against each other and Islam, and that too seems to have been the result.

But it is only through the complicity and cooperation of our leaders and us that those things have come to pass.  We could have displayed courage and stood up to the terror Osama and his criminal cohorts tried to instill in us. Instead, we are sacrificing our freedoms for the illusion of safety. I hope it is not too late to stop the drift into totalitarianism and plutocracy.

Time will tell.