Ever since 9/11 all the preznit's men and all their right-wing cheerleaders have been squawking about "the stakes" in dubya's War on Terra and the existential threat to the US presented by the Islamo-homo-commie-liberal-mexi-fascistanis. They used the same rhetoric to justify the Iraq invasion and they're still using it as an excuse to prolong the (failed) occupation. I don't get it. Where is this threat that, if realized, is going to cause the US to cease to exist? I've tried to imagine some way this threat could magically materialize upon the re-deployment of our troops and I just can't see it. The US is the world's only remaining superpower. That means there is no conventional military force of sufficient size or capability to challenge us. What does that say for the chances of a bunch of loosely connected groups of sectarian guerilla car-bombers and suicidal jihadists to conquer our military and overthrow our government? It's ridiculous.

I can imagine more terrorist attacks taking place in the US. In fact, I expect them. Guerilla warfare is essentially indefensible, especially when carried out by determined enemies willing to die for their cause. But I also assume that the Bush administration has taken sufficient steps to prevent the hijacking of the huge flying bombs that jetliners are. This alone should prevent another 9/11, but even if terrorists do manage to pull off another large scale attack, are the American people going to suddenly throw up their collective hands in despair and decide to dissolve the Union? No.

The only existential threat I can see does, however, lie in what we do to ourselves. Or rather in what we allow our own government to do to us. Every time dubya says his number one job is to protect the Amurkin people, he's really saying "be afraid." This constant fear-mongering has been used by the administration to facilitate the implementation of policies antithetical to our ideals of a government by the people and for the people as laid out in our constitution. Under the guise of keeping us safe, the same idealogues who brought us previous right-wing presidential over-reaches (see Nixon and Reagan) are attempting to move us toward a strict authoritarian government by redefining the Presidency as outside the laws of the land and usurping the authority of the other two branches of government. I really do think that we are approaching a constitutional crisis that can only be averted by a bi-partisan Congress re-asserting it's power of executive oversight and giving the boy king a little taste of humility.