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The Dreaded Return to Normalcy
By Mike Bayham
February 21, 2002

In the days after the terrorist strikes, America became a new nation, at least temporarily. God was given probation and allowed to reenter the public school system, patriotism in most places outside of Berkeley was no longer considered corny, and partisan politics was deferred to support of the president.

And though the country was awash in traditional values and unity, the tide that had swept the nation has clearly begun to ebb. The ACLU, after biting its tongue for the most part, has started its crackdown on banners in schools that mention our Creator's name, American flags which had disappeared from store shelves, are now disappearing from homes and businesses, and the president's approval numbers are beginning to reenter the earth's orbit.

Despite the fact that less than six months ago the twin towers of the World Trade Center were brought tumbling down by agents of Osama Bin Laden, all the media and the Democrats have been talking about is the collapse of Enron. Their pursuit of evidence that in any way would link Bush to the energy company's demise is being pursued almost as feverishly as American special forces are pursuing Bin Laden and the remnants of Al Qaeda.

Though Americans at home and overseas are still faced with potential attacks in the future, things are slowly but surely getting back to normal. Which is not necessarily a good thing.

There used to be the common held belief in the political parties that politics stops at the water's edge. This unwritten rule was shredded when Tom Daschle started to mock President Bush's declaration of the "Axis of Evil." Daschle has since backed off a bit, though former presidential rival Al Gore, who had recently declared his return to the national discussion (i.e., taking pot shots at the president), has shown no hesitation on criticizing Bush under the guise of pandering to the "feelings" of the rest of the world.

It probably goes without saying that former President Bill Clinton, who has been in a froth because his successor has established a more memorable historical legacy in a mere 12 months, has also been critical of Bush's foreign policy positions.

On a recent Time magazine cover, a picture of the White House at night is shown with the headline "Enron: How Sticky Will It Get" which for all practical purposes accuses the Bush administration of somehow causing or benefiting from its meltdown. The three ring media circus concerning Enron is another example of how the Bush administration should plan on taking the blame for several earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tropical storms to take place later in 2002.

Time magazine might as well have one of its reporters ask the president "have you stopped stealing Enron employee retirement funds?" when running front cover visuals like that. There was no mention of the fact that the early stages of Enron's collapse began when Clinton was in office, as is the case with the slowing economy which Bush has also been blamed for.

On the religious front, it appears God's visitors pass in government buildings is about to be revoked. In the New York neighborhood that received a double whammy from the WTC attack and the unrelated crash of a commercial airliner, Beach Channel High School was ordered to remove a sign that hung from the school that simply read "God bless you." Another sign that was displayed with the dirty three letter word was "tolerated" because "God bless America" was construed as being patriotic, not religious.

The action was provoked not by students or parents, who had put the sign up in the first place, but by a representative of the teacher's union who felt that it might have violated the "constitutional separation between church and state." Nevermind that nowhere in the Constitution does this phrase exist.

Many of the students supported the prominent display of the sign though one student, Gilberto Dixon, objected to it because it might upset some people (as if) and that "high school has nothing to do with God." Somebody needs to tell Gilberto that this is so because of atheistic liberal politicians, not because of Thomas Jefferson or John Adams.

Expressions of profound patriotism in the media and in our communities have eroded. The American flag lapel pins have already disappeared from some of the news anchors that once sported them on their suits and the NBC peacock has molted its red, white and blue "feathers" and has gone back to its previous colors. Unfortunately this was not something totally unexpected.

Even during the heyday of reveling in everything God, W and American, so called "cynics," also known as realists, lamented over the fact that it took the deaths of thousands of Americans and the destruction of New York City's tallest buildings to bring about this change in the American psyche. Many of these people also ruefully speculated when things would go back to normal.

Just like the Israelites, who were saved and protected by their deliverer time and time again only to later take Him for granted, society has cast aside the values and beliefs that helped guide the nation through one its worst crisis. One can only hope that it will not take a follow-up attack in order to lead our prodigal nation back to what it had left behind.