American Way of Fear Tragedy struck the White House this week in the form of poll numbers. Poll numbers can be a terrifying thing. If you think about it, all the big things that happen in America are affected by poll numbers; this even though 75% of Americans respond that they have never been polled. Support for the president is flagging. People no longer believe. At some point, fear is not enough to drive blind faith. All the standard cures have been trotted out: legislation, regulation, surveillance, bombings. The president landed a plane and appeared on television in a military uniform; but it just isn’t BIG enough. People have become used to it. They expect a little more from the president to keep that adrenaline rush up. Americans are sophisticated viewers and they expect more entertainment for their tax dollars. All these foreign wars have faded into the background in the public mind. People are starting to become concerned about their own well being. I can’t even remember the last time people were actually concerned about a terrorist warning. Come to think of it, what is the terrorist warning index color this week? Terrorist warnings are so last year. Rumor has it sales of American flags are dipping. This is going to destroy flag manufacturing jobs and put a lot of good hard working people out of work in China. The president has been making plans. There are some actions he can take to get the situation under control. We need to fire up unity, for the sake of the elections. The first plan is to revitalize and refresh the concept of “potentially doomed terrorist targets.” Back in the day, I remember when they actually canceled the Seattle observance of the New Year. If you’ve ever wondered why Washington state is trailing one year behind the rest of the country- this is the reason. I know, as time has gone by people have taken this discrepancy for granted, like time zones and sodomy laws. So, what we’re looking for are fresh threats against the homeland. Now, the question on your mind is, “Hey, these ‘potentially doomed terrorist targets’ you speak of... are they in danger from Foreign or Homegrown terrorism?” And it’s a good question. The answer is “Foreign.” Homegrown terrorism is too messy, too nationally divisive with people asking hard questions like “Why?” “Where?” “How?” and “Who?” I think you can agree that this is a headache we can ill afford. Homegrown terrorism does nothing for unity. What we’re looking for is a bold and assertive initiative from our president that takes positive action to prevent damage and/or destruction to our precious national landmarks and treasures. This is the kind of thing that the American people can get behind. This is what our president is prepared to give us. What will this bold and unity building initiative entail? Quite simply, our president is now preparing a “scorched earth” policy to deal with terrorism. From now on there will be no place to run and no place to hide. Our president is a man of action and action is what he is contemplating. Ultimately, he will teach us to set aside our fear; not by apathy but by elimination. Soon he will hold a fireside talk to explain his new policies to the people. “We must destroy these targets in order to save them,” he will tell us. Give the president his due. Terrorism cannot destroy that which has already been destroyed. You can’t re-burn ashes. You can’t re-destroy a target. To the victor go the spoils. By destroying our own buildings and sites, we will stand proud, victorious, and undefeated. We will be poor; but we will be proud. From this angle, I think you can agree that the policies of this administration will indeed be successful in guarding us from foreign devils and heathen liberals alike. I know some people are already trying to find fault with our president’s plans. But that’s just cynicism. It is just sad when some people can’t face reality and reject reason. But this is America, and I applaud their right to voice their views, though I don’t agree with them; as long as they keep to their cordoned off designated protest areas. Even if they don’t back our president’s plan to bomb our own homeland targets before the terrorists can get to them, I would hope that they at least will stand with our honorable troops as they go about their duty bombing and demolishing these sites around the great United States. I mean, it’s one thing to badmouth our president and Commander in Chief, but it’s quite another to speak out or obstruct our men in uniform as they carry out our president’s orders. They have a job to do and I’d like to think that all Americans could respect and support them in that. I mean, our president doesn’t just pull this stuff out of thin air- he has advisors. He’s privy to information we aren’t. So let’s give the man the benefit of the doubt. He didn’t go to Vietnam- but Colin Powell told him about Mai Lai. David Raffin is the editor of Vision? Nary! magazine. A writer and a performer, he may be contacted though his home page. This column is available by email. If you are interested in running this column as a regular feature in your publication, contact here.