It's difficult to get away from fear once you feel it in your bones. We all realized, after 9/11, that the orderliness of our world was shaken. What we thought was predictable, wasn't. My step-daughter would have been in the towers, but she was ill and didn't take the train into New York. A friend who worked for Cantor-Fitzgerald had to pick up a prescription and is still alive. Another friend walked down 60 flights of stairs and survived.
We know that fear. We saw it televised over and over again. It's in our bones now. Like Louisa, we treasure what we have and we want to protect it. And many of us look to the powerful, or those who appear powerful, to protect us from the horrors that have no reason.
The only problem is that power is seductive. Even with the best intentions, it's difficult not to want to do things the way we think is right and ignore the rules because they get in the way.
And the desire to be protected by a strong man is also seductive. Heck, it's the fairy tale we all grew up with. The problem is, and most of us have realized this in our personal lives, is that no one is infallable. We all have blind spots.
We need to support each other with questions and acknowledgement. So I can easily acknowledge Mr. Bush for taking a strong stand after 9/11. The country needed someone to look to for strength and he provided it. But, I must also, as a good citizen, question the decisions he has made that go against the law, at least the spirit of the law as we know it.
I believe that calling for impeachment is too extreme right now. We don't know all the facts. We need the inquiry and to establish where the boundary was crossed. If we learned anything from the impeachment trials of Mr. Clinton, it is what a huge amount of money and time it takes to do that.
However, I am not willing to give up my liberty for a false sense of security, no matter how large my fear may be.