The terrorists will never need to attack America. We are already being terrorized by a Congress that is failing the middle class and people in need by threatening shutdowns. Don’t think only infrastructure. Don’t think about wage inequality and the erosion of voting rights. Most of all, forget about how Citizens United has strangled the fair playing field, so that elections are all about money and payoffs.
What has happened to our democracy terrifies me. It’s no wonder that there are so many disaffected people. The ladder to success is broken because we have a broken system. Those protections and rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” are becoming a myth. That is why terrorism is attracting and winning so many converts: they are unhappy with what is. If our own country continues to feed the wealthy what it wants and deprives others of sustenance and hope, then we are doomed and terrorism wins.
—Elaine Peters
