Now What?

The vicious instigator of mass murder is dead. The architect of 9/11 is no more. Did his passing please me? Yes. Do I feel safer with him gone? Not really.

My country has changed in frightening, confusing ways since September 11, 2001. Its citizenry is polarized in apparently irreconcilable camps. Its economy is lackluster with few signs of revitalization on the horizon.

The Bill of Rights are more observed in their violation than their observance. The middle class is shrinking while fewer and fewer super rich individuals own more and more of the national assets. Regulations that control the most powerful corporations are weakened while regulations that control more and more of the daily lives of individuals are strengthened.

We wage undeclared wars across the middle east. These wars have drained our treasury. Regular Americans who fly on major carriers are subject to intrusive search of their possessions and persons and are treated like cattle by the carriers who transport them. Wealthy Americans fly with relatively small inconvenience on private carriers where they are cosseted and pampered. An activist religious minority legislates its particular "morality" upon the majority and openly rejects the separation of church and state established by our First Amendment.

Yes, I was glad to see the most notorious murderer of our time executed. The very serious problems crippling our society and threatening our children's' futures still exist.