New Democrat Update - March 2003
COLORADO HOMELAND SECURITY LAGGING
This commentary is by Matt Pellegrini, a policy analyst for the Colorado DLC and a practicing attorney.
Sixteen months after 9/11, Colorado remains largely unprepared for a terrorist attack. Although the Office of Preparedness, Security and Fire Safety was created to maximize our safety in the event of a terrorist attack, the Owens administration has done little to achieve this goal. Numerous inquiries with this department have yielded more questions than answers.
Is Colorado a target for a terrorist attack? Absolutely. This state faces numerous risks, including: the Rocky Flats nuclear clean-up site, a source of dangerous radiological waste; Denver International Airport, one of the nation’s busiest airports; a vast railroad network that transports commodities throughout the United States; extensive farming and ranching operations that supply food to our entire country; over a dozen of military installations that house our nation’s defense personnel and equipment; the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to a great portion of the Western United States; abundant energy reserves, such as oil, gas and coal; and our extensive wilderness, a source of attack through wildfires, as evidenced by the Hayman disaster.
These targets are susceptible to and highly desirable for attack from a terrorist’s perspective due to the massive impact their destruction would have on our lives. And this is only the beginning.
Our government must be more proactive in bolstering our security. It must address the issues that will prepare us for an attack because preparation in itself is a powerful deterrent. To do this, our government must develop a comprehensive response plan for effectively responding to a terrorist attack.
The state must invest in infrastructure, including the development of: integrated communications systems used during emergency situations that will connect police, fire and EMS personnel throughout the state; a terrorist intelligence network that gathers data to alert officials of possible terrorist activity; and strategies to combat biological, chemical, agricultural, radiological and cyber-terrorism. It must recruit, train and enhance our first responder network, such as fire, police and emergency personnel, and engage the community to act as our first line of defense. Our government must take action, and it must take it now.
A two-pronged solution exists: First, the state must take the lead by evaluating, planning and implementing security programs; and, second, citizens must willingly participate in the fight against this unseen enemy. The state’s involvement would include - identification and evaluation of threats; development of measures to minimize the threats; and conducting a cost-benefit analysis to assess the necessity and feasibility of implementing its findings so that a well-informed decision can be made – by government and citizen together – on how to best utilize available finances and create new sources of funding (i.e., a referendum or ballot initiative).
Citizen involvement could be accomplished through the creation of statewide volunteer organizations that will aid in the development of local defense programs and assist in the event of an attack. The success of this approach requires the government and citizens to form a security partnership, a symbiotic relationship where each side is nourished by and grows from the actions of the other.
Some critics may claim that this is an alarmist response. But isn’t it better to be prepared than accept the potentially dire consequences? Terrorism is a war on our homefront. Its method is the use of destruction; its mission is to inflict fear. Coloradans must remain strong and united, and state government must take the lead.
This is not an easy task to undertake, but neither is being an American citizen. We hold freedom as our most valuable possession; our forefathers fought for it and died for it. There is no doubt we have something to fear, but, throughout our history, fear has caused our nation to rise to the occasion and turn a feeling of utter despair into an overwhelming sense of optimism and hope.
We are Americans. We fight the battles others choose to ignore. We find our greatest hours when faced with the most difficult of challenges. We pride ourselves on standing tall when others cower under pressure. Americans win. Colorado’s political leadership and citizens must not now abandon our tradition of greatness.
AMERICAN DISSENT
Despite some strong arguments against waging war with Iraq (just as there are some good arguments in favor), American public opinion has not been swayed by the peace movement. In large part, that is due to the protest movement’s failure to articulate a moral vision beyond avoiding war (while a worthy goal, as history demonstrates, sometimes other very important values might be conflicting with peace).
A majority will not be persuaded until today’s dissenters embrace and inject patriotic American themes like freedom, individual liberty, social equality, and participatory democracy into their messages and arguments. The public must also be convinced that the marchers embrace winning the war on terrorism.
History demonstrates that reformers are successful only when seen as defending or expanding the American Creed, so well articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Frederick Douglass, leader of the anti-slavery struggle, demanded changes in order to live up to “the genius of American institutions, to help fulfill its [the nation’s] sacred mission.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Betty Friedan believed in the empowerment of women because both saw it as a way for the country to redeem its promise to all Americans. John Lewis’ (now a Georgia Congressman) civil rights movement prevailed because it appealed to the true American ideal of inclusion and the principle that everyone counts. Martin Luther King, Jr. objected to the Vietnam War by expressing love for his country and wishing it to be a moral example to the world.
Contrary to the successful progressive movements of the past, the dominant message of today’s left avoids emphasizing American ideals (other than peace itself) about the potential war or, for that matter, on any other issue. Some progressives refrain from invoking patriotic themes because they are justifiably wary of the right-wing’s “are-you-with-us-or-against-us?" flag-waving demagoguery. More troubling, others reject America’s belief system because they sincerely see it as fatally compromised by the country’s long-held intolerance of and injustice toward African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, gays and others.
Americans are proud of their nation and are deeply committed to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence. The large majority of Americans believes, as New Democrats do, that, while far from perfect, America continues on the upward path of social justice, and stands as a beacon of hope for freedom, equality and basic decency for the world.
Anti-war advocates, and for that matter progressives, will succeed when and only when Americans are convinced that reformers share these basic but very important and fundamental beliefs. Until then, neither movement can expect to accomplish much.
SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT
The latest edition of Blueprint, the policy journal of the New Democrat movement, features an insightful analysis of the upcoming presidential race by the national DLC’s Al From and Bruce Reed, two of the architects of the New Democrat ideas that transformed politics in the 1990s. Identifying 10 big ideas for Democrats to pursue in the coming year, From and Reed also warn about potential pitfalls, such as staying wedded to a Washington insider's mindset and taking positions in primaries that will backfire with general election voters.