There has been a great attack against the world. A building of national importance has been lost. It was perpetrated by terrorists. They came from the Middle East, and we are going after them. We, as a nation, have started to root out these terrorists and countries that are friendly to them.

To do this, there has been a temporary loss of civil liberties. Do not fear this is permanent, the law is sunset for a few years from now.

The police need time to find the terrorists in our own country.

Some people are protesting the government actions. They are protesting in spite of the amazingly high approval rates of the government.

They are protesting because civil rights and human rights have been violated.

How long can their dissent tear this country apart?

The homeland needs to be unified and strong. That is why a department has been set up to protect the homeland. We may have left the United Nations behind, argued with France over our growing militarism, but that matters none. We are a country at war. Our president gave an ultimatum. It was broken. Britain is behind us with the preemptive strike. This is a small war that we can win. What is everyone so upset about?

I, for one, am upset because what is aforementioned is a reconstruction of events taken from letters, newspapers and history books of Germany from 1932 until the fall of Hitler.

If anyone reading this thought I was speaking of America then think for minute about your unbridled patriotism. Hitler rose to power on very similar circumstances.

We need to learn from history, not repeat it. The depression was met by Germany with fascism, privatization and support of corporations. America helped out people through public works projects. We are in a recession facing the same choice. Do we wage fascism, war and loss of our liberties, or do we work towards bettering ourselves as Roosevelt did not so long ago. The choice is up to us.

Jonathan Mullin

Senior

Biochemistry