Mark Cohen, Peak to Peak. Nineteen years ago, on September 11, 2001, I was the Municipal Judge presiding over the morning traffic docket in Boulder. One of the defendants was a Saudi Arabian student who was clearly delighted that the United States had finally gotten what was coming to it. When I called his case, he grinned and said something like, “It’s an interesting morning.” I did not take the bait, and just asked, “How do you want to plead?” He said, “guilty,” and I imposed the same fine on him I had imposed on the other defendants who had pled guilty to the same charge.  

I finished the morning docket, and drove back to Nederland to the new home we had just purchased on West Fourth Street. My older daughter was just a toddler, and the two younger children had not yet been born.  I brooded about the attack on the nation I had once proudly served.  

Nineteen years later I feel quite different about 9/11. Back then I still believed in America. Today I can remember the loss of life and the heroism of the first responders, and have compassion for those who lost loved ones, but don’t expect me to wave the flag or engage in any “America is great” celebrations.

As a result of the attack, President Bush, who had lost the popular vote and been made President by a 5-4 party line Supreme Court decision, launched a war on Iraq, which was not involved in 9/11. Thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of others needlessly lost their lives while Saudi Arabia, the sponsor of the attacks, went unpunished.  The Iraq disaster, in turn, led to the election of America’s first black President, and a brief time I was proud that majority white nation had elected a black President.  

But for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.  And the election of a black President resulted in a backlash that led us to where we are today. The truth is many Americans never believed in the values embodied in our Constitution, and they only gave lip service to it so long as white, Christian men were in charge. The election of a black man as president was the last straw for them.  

Today, our ignorance, hubris, and racism are in plain view. We pay lip service to democracy, but the fake Russian President attempts to destroy it by attacking the Postal Service while Republican senators sit silent so they can get their tax cuts for the rich. We pay lip service to equality while our fake Russian President fans the flames of racism, and Republican senators watch in silence, so they can get their deregulation. We pay lip service to freedom of religion while our fake Russian President works to create a Christian theocracy, with approval from Republicans who claim to believe in limited government. We pay lip service to due process of law while our fake Russian President displays contempt for the law, again with the approval of the same Republican senators that confirmed Barr as the Attorney General. We pay lip service to free speech while Republicans attempt to pass laws criminalizing protests and our fake Russian President demonizes the press and uses the government to retaliate against his critics. We pay lip service to the “United” States, while Republicans work to uphold a system that denies healthcare to tens of millions of citizens who are expected to nevertheless want “unity.”  We pay lip service to making America great, while we cut funding for schools and our nation’s rankings in education and every other category (except porn production) fall lower and lower. So, don’t expect me to wave the flag. It no longer symbolizes what it once did; it is a lie. Nothing good ever comes from believing a lie.

I’m sure the response to this article from the Trump Cult will be something like, “If America is so bad, move.” This is the typical straw man argument they make because it’s all they’ve got. I did not say America is the worst nation in the world, but it is not what it was intended to be, not what it claims to be, and not what it could be. Sure, there are worse places to live. North Korea, for example. But we used to hold America to a higher standard than that. Now, instead of defeating Nazis, causing the collapse of the Soviet Union, and using science to land men on the moon, our fake Russian President encourages Nazis, sells our troops out to the Russians, and mocks science, all while his supporter -- who claim to be more patriotic and moral than the Americans they want to “unite” with -- cheer him on.

I won’t end this column with, “God Bless America.” I will end with, “God Bless those who understand and believe in what America could be.” To the rest of you, I wish you the best. Until the civil war begins. 

(Originally published in the September 17, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)