Remembering 9/11

September 11, 2023

          Before I write about the anniversary of 9/11, I want to acknowledge those readers who suffered the loss of family members and friends on that tragic day. I know some of you by name, but I assume there are other readers I do not know who also suffered losses on 9/11. To each of you, my wife and I extend our continuing sympathy and condolences. Hearing about the events of 9/11 must be painful. In discussing the lessons of 9/11 through the lens of the current threats to democracy, I do not mean to overlook or diminish the ultimate loss you suffered. You and your loved ones are in our hearts, always.

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          For those Americans not in New York, D.C., or Pennsylvania on 9/11, there was a lag between hearing the news of the attacks and the full understanding of what had just happened to our country. I was practicing law in Los Angeles on 9/11 and was the managing partner of a global law firm and my wife was the dean of a private high school. With three young children in the house, we were awake and getting everyone ready for work and school at 5:30 AM (Pacific) on 9/11. When we heard about the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center, we turned on the TV and watched as the second plane hit the towers.

          My wife called her boss, the president of the high school and urged her to cancel classes for the day. The president of the school responded, “Why? Just because a plane crashed in New York?” Most parents shared that view because they dropped off their daughters at school between 7:30 and 8:00 AM Pacific (more than two hours after the first plane hit the World Trade Center.) When classes were finally canceled several hours later, students were huddling and crying in the gymnasium, frantically trying to reach their parents on contraband pagers and cell phones (forbidden items on high school campuses at that time).  

          In the legal community, clueless and callous judges issued orders early in the morning on 9/11 threatening to issue sanctions against lawyers who failed to appear in court that day. (All courts closed by mid-day and the orders were rescinded by day’s end.) I had to drive from my home to my firm’s office in downtown LA to tell lawyers to leave our high-rise building. (There were rumors that at least one commercial airliner was unaccounted for and still in the air.) One corporate attorney—who was a 6’8” center on the 1958-60 Stanford basketball team—said, “But I have a deal closing today. I can’t leave.” I told him, “Neal, you may not think I can do it, but if I have to pick you up and carry you out of the office, I will.” To say he was taken aback would be an understatement. One young associate was sitting in her office working on a motion due to be filed on 9/11. When I told her to leave, she burst into tears, saying she didn’t want to be there but the partner in charge of the case told her to go into the office and finish drafting and filing the motion.

           It took the rest of America several days to comprehend the reality of what happened in New York, D.C., and Pennsylvania—a reality that needed no time to sink-in for those who witnessed the attacks firsthand. But when Americans finally understood the scale and depth of destruction, we were united in our grief and resolve as never before. That national moment of unity lasted for months. Strangers nodded, waved, and even hugged in grocery stores and school parking lots as they struggled to deal with the fear and loss of 9/11. Fifteen years after 9/11, three-quarters of Americans said it was the most significant historical event of their lifetime.

          Although there were regrettable consequences from the surge of patriotism following 9/11 that cannot be ignored (Islamophobia, the war in Iraq) there is also a lesson embedded in the national unity following 9/11. When our nation is under attack, our instinctive response is to unify, to see past our differences, and to do what is necessary to ensure the survival of our democracy. That impulse is ever-present in the American people. True, it is not universal; some Americans dissented from the fight against Nazism in WWII. But it is present in the vast majority of Americans who understand that virtually everything they value is dependent on preserving democracy.

          America lost a measure of innocence on 9/11, which can never be regained. But it also learned that we must be vigilant to prevent a repeat of 9/11. The same is true of the insurrection on January 6, 2021. Before the events of January 6, the notion that a sitting president would attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power was incomprehensible. We now understand the threat is real and may be repeated. While the moment of unity after January 6 lasted only weeks (and in the case of Congress, minutes), the American people will be on guard in future elections.

          Despite reckless talk by right-wing extremists and calls for mass protests by Trump, the elections of 2022 and the indictments of the coup-plotters were free of violence. A painful lesson has been learned by all—protestors, law enforcement, and prosecutors: violence will not be tolerated and, if it occurs, will be punished.

          The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. That was true on 9/11 and January 6 and will remain true for every election hence. Yes, we have lost a measure of innocence, but we have gained the experience and knowledge necessary to protect our nation from future threats. Most importantly, we have seen that in times of crisis, protecting American democracy is in the sinew and bone of its people. From the tragedy of 9/11 and the insurrection of January 6, we should draw confidence and resolve that we can and will do what is necessary to preserve our democracy.

Opportunities for reader engagement.

          From Sarah O’Neill:

Come meet Brandon Presley, Candidate for Governor of Mississippi, on Zoom Friday at 11 AM Eastern!

Brandon Presley is challenging the unpopular Republican incumbent governor, Tate Reeves, and has a real chance to win in this very red state. Watch Brandon Presley’s great video here. 

Mississippi needs Brandon. He isn't your run-of-the-mill politician. Brandon served as Mayor of Nettleton from 2001 to 2007, having been elected at the age of 23, making him one of the youngest mayors in Mississippi history. He balanced the budget every year, cut taxes twice, and got the town moving again.

In 2007 he was elected to the Public Service Commission as the youngest Commissioner ever elected in Mississippi history. Brandon opened up meetings that had been closed to the public for decades, brought high-speed internet to some of the most remote and forgotten parts of Mississippi, put people back to work with the Hire Mississippi program, and saved taxpayers over 6 billion dollars.

Join three NYC-based Groups with guest Brandon Presley Friday for a 30-minute visit starting at 11am ET! Register here to receive the Zoom link. Small dollar donations for Brandon here can really add up to help!

          From Markers for Democracy:

          Markers for Democracy (MFD) has created an every-other-week newsletter that is a handy guide to MFD current postcard campaigns and all things postcarding! Check out the first edition here: Welcome To "This Week In Postcarding!"

          If you or your group are involved in postcarding, I urge you to check out this resource and/or contact MFD to get your campaign on their radar screen!

Concluding Thoughts.

          I attended a meeting of the Swing Left San Gabriel Valley chapter on Sunday evening—along with Jessica Craven of Chop Wood Carry Water. The attendance was great! Approximately 100 people took time out of their Sunday evening to talk about saving democracy! As always, I leave such meetings with a renewed sense of hope and optimism about our short-term and long-term prospects for success. Thanks to our host, Donna Jaffe, for arranging a wonderful evening.

          In my remarks, I started with the aphorism variously attributed to Sir Edmund Burke and John Stuart Mill, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” While that warning applies to our current political situation, it is stated in the negative, i.e., it discusses the necessary condition for evil to triumph.

          But what is necessary for good to triumph? I proposed that we turn Burke/Mill’s statement on its head: “All that is necessary for good to triumph, is for good people to do something.”

          For democracy to endure, we need good people to do something. More than 81 million Americans voted for Joe Biden. If a significant proportion of those voters did “something” each week to promote democracy, our future would be secured beyond doubt. We don’t need everyone to be an elected official or party leader or major donor. We just need good people to engage in small acts of democracy on a regular basis.

          The truth is that only a small fraction of good people will (or can) contribute to that effort. That’s okay. As President Biden said in his first inaugural speech, all we need is for “enough of us to come together to carry all of us forward.”

          The members of the Swing Left San Gabriel chapter are part of the “enough of us” who will carry “all of us forward.” There are tens of thousands of grassroots organizations across America that did not exist in 2015 that are meeting every week to “do something” to preserve democracy. They are holding the bulwark between elections until “the rest of us” come forward to vote.

          At the meeting, Donna Jaffe gave everyone a postcard that suggested something each of us could do. I have included a picture of the card below. It asks for a commitment to remind three friends to vote. Is that something you can do? Absolutely! If enough of us commit to reminding three friends to vote, we will reach tens of millions of Americans before an election that will be decided by turnout.

          To everyone who is “doing something” to preserve democracy, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are helping to preserve democracy for my daughters and granddaughters. I am grateful to you and will forever be in your debt. Keep up the good work!

          Talk to you tomorrow!