Impregnable America is just a memory now

by Russell Shaw | Catholic World Report

On the evening of the Boston Marathon bombing I was doing a
radio interview about a book I'd written. Before getting to me, the host asked
listeners to pray for victims of the atrocity in Boston and for the nation.
When my turn came, I said, "My prayer is 'deliver us from evil.'" The
host agreed that was the right prayer.

Remember
America the Impregnable? It's just a memory now. The United States used to be
literally beyond the reach of foes, protected by two mighty oceans and peaceful
neighbors. But the cold war, with its ever-present nuclear threat, put an end
to that. And with 9/11, impregnability was a vanished dream.

Now,
of course, Americans find themselves menaced not just by foreign
threats--al-Qaeda, North Korea, whatever--but also by a seemingly bottomless
reservoir of home-grown monsters acting out fantasies of homicidal violence in
settings like schools and movie theaters. "Terrorism is a fact of modern
life," an Op Ed commentator pronounces. So, deliver us from facts of modern
life!

The
nation is responding to the reality of pervasive, universal vulnerability in a
variety of ways. Abroad, President Obama sharply escalates drone attacks on
terrorists--a controversial policy whose strongest talking point may be that it
helps keep us from blundering into another Iraq. Back in the U.S. a homeland
security regime is taking shape, with a burgeoning network of intrusive new
procedures to match. More subtly, pit-of-the-stomach anxiety is likely swelling
the market for escapist entertainment while encouraging some Americans to seek
distraction in outlets like alcohol, drugs, and pornography.

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