For many of us here at Daily Kos and around the world, 9/11/2001 is a moment, a date, and a turning point in our nation's history that is seared into our memories. For a large subset of this community, it also marked a coming of age that will, I believe, usher in a new crop of leaders that we have come to expect.
My own story begins in a small suburb of Chicago on a lazy, amazingly clear, Tuesday morning that I had overslept my alarm clock. Hey I was only 20, that's what 20 year year old college students do, right? I was startled to be awoken by my roommate who had just seen the news, the World Trade Center towers were hit by planes - intentionally. As we both sat around the television in utter shock, the day, and in fact both of our lives were beginning anew, and I now had a purpose...
I won't lie and say I was ever a Republican, because I wasn't. I could read through Bush's bullshit from a mile away when he was campaigning against Gore, and I had read about some of the shady things he had done to McCain in the Republican primaries. However, after 9/11 I wanted to believe the President and thought he would do what was right for the country and the world to move on and defeat radical Islamic terrorists.
My first step in support of my country was to log onto the Air Force website and send in a recruitment form for any engineering position available. Fortunately for me, the Air Force must have had a nearly 2 year backup on getting back to these forms and I didn't do anything rash. By the time I received my notice to attend a meeting with a recruiter, my patriotism had waned in the face of the unabashed partisanship of Mr. Bush and his cronies in the Congress.
It wasn't long before the administration would lose focus on the goal which I saw as paramount (fighting terrorism) for one they had held for years, the displacement of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. The "We are all Americans" attitude that had swelled among conservatives and liberals was about to be smashed just as fast as it had been built up. What I couldn't fathom was how the country was going along with the administration's (and the pundit class') drumbeat to war. I was at work when we all stopped to listen to Colin Powell's speech to the UN from a computer in our boss' office. Unfortunately the speech carried with it the weight of the American public's trust in Colin Powell, yet it was packed with lies and known falsehoods. The war against Iraq was about to begin, and many of my friends and contemporaries were going to be giving up so much for a political abuse of 9/11.
When the drumbeat to Iraq started I knew there was no turning back. I had become obsessed (since 9/11) with politics and policy making in the United States. I could see the systematic failures falling into place like dominos at every level as the career politicians sided with a temporarily strong president to leave this country with a permanent problem in Iraq. Even a Democratic poster child like Max Cleland, the former Democratic Senator who had lost three limbs in Vietnam voted to allow Mr. Bush to wage war against Iraq.
My obsession with politics and my revulsion toward the current state of affairs turned into action as I got older and more tech savvy. I started various websites and blogs devoted to getting the truth out about the administration and to counter what I saw as a deliberate attempt by the administration and the media to misinform the public. Some of these blogs had readerships in the thousands per day (not going to mention names since this isn't meant to be an advertisement), and I felt like I was really doing my part. I lent my web skills to various low profile House campaigns, and even worked with one of the current DKos regulars before any of you knew his name(I still have him in my cell phone!). During my time I met so many people who had been directly affected by 9/11 and had lost loved ones, and even an unborn grandchild on that fateful morning. I met mothers that had kids younger than even myself killed in the sands of Iraq. These are the kinds of encounters that hit you in the face like a ton of bricks and change your life.
On Wednesday September 12th 2001 I knew that my generation would be defined by the War Against Terrorism, even though it hadn't been named yet. What I didn't know was that current policy makers would start the country off on a road that would make winning the war so much more difficult by fomenting Islamic radicalism, squandering global alliances, stretching our military to the breaking point, and burning through hundreds of billions of dollars a year in debt spending to finance these fiascos.
I don't mean for this diary to be trumpeting anything I have done individually, as it has been but the smallest drop of water in the lake of change that is brewing. I only mean for this to show, by example, that the horrendous political events that are causing you to lose sleep tonight are preparing the next crop of leaders for a better future. Millions of others like me have learned so much from these mistakes that we have changed on such a fundamental level that it will change this country in the long run. I can tell you that many my age are indeed paying attention and planning how we will make a difference. Contrary to the general stigma attached to Generation Y, we are not going to be the generation that sits by and watches The United States of America break at the seams of the Mason-Dixon line. We are going to be the generation that builds this country back up to be a shining beacon on the hill for other countries to see. Keep up the fight, we have a long way to go, we are still learning to harness our talents and proudly display our deep political scars that have made us stronger, but we will be coming soon to fix this mess...