Crisis Zone
If there's one thing that I've learned about American people, it's that often they don't take action or make a sacrifice on something unless it's absolutely necessary. It takes a crisis, like the huge blackout we just had in order for changes to be made. It's funny, becuase once the blackout happened, every politician announced the need for action, every commentator talked about the shoddy condition of this country's power grid. But where were these people a month ago? They never would have mentioned any of this before becuase it would have been too costly, and Joe Six Pack wasn't ready to foot the bill. It just wouldn't seem urgent enough to do so, to commit the vast resources and capital. But a lot of people suddenly decided it was necessary once there was a real problem.

Call it procrastination, or laziness, or whatever. And I think that 9/11 is an extension of this symptom. Look, let's be honest. International terrorism was always a threat to the country, but people in America thought they were invincible from it- terrorism was always something that had to do with countries "over there", never here in the States. They never would have agreed to all the extra time at airports, strip searches, etc.- although maybe they should have. And now, with an official crisis (the biggest ever? Depends on who you ask), it's fairly easy to argue many in government and the real world have gone overboard in the zealousness of their response.

I think that's why a lot of very important long term issues- such as the environment, budget deficits, and close working diplomatic relationships with other countries- often get overlooked by John Q. Public. They're all important, but might not seem so urgent at the present time. Although, with a lot of these issues, by the time you realize how bad it is, it might very well be too late to repair. But that's for another discussion.