Opinion

Editorials are posted and archived on JNonline.us.

Greenberg's View

Editorial

The Essential Truth

I

t has been written repeat-
edly that our world changed
on 9-11. It has become
commonplaCe as well to say that
the event in American history
to which it most closely cor-
responds is the attack on Pearl
Harbor.
Neither statement is true.
The world had changed well
before 9-11. Americans were just
a little slow to pick up on it. Even
after repeated attacks on our citi-
zens and troops, it wasn't until
Islamic terrorism actually came
to our borders that we grasped
that fact.
The fifth anniversary of Pearl
Harbor was observed in a nation
at peace, with Germany and
Japan utterly defeated. Five years
after 9-11, Americans are deeply
divided and the debate over how
we responded to the attack has
been bitterly politicized.
In a sense, however, 9-11 made
us all Israelis. The sort of restric-
tions on daily life that they have
put up with for years are now a
part of ours. We don't like them
much. Because through all our
history America had the luxury

of withdrawing across the oceans
if it chose and letting the rest of
the world go at one another.
But that era is gone. The ter-
rorists have shown that if they
cannot bend us to their will, they
mean to follow us here.
So we find ourselves with
Israel on the front lines of a
global struggle that will go on for
years. It already has dragged on
longer than World War II or the
Civil War, even if the toll in casu-
alties is only a fraction of those
conflicts.
If we lack the commitment to
wage such a war, our enemies do
not. They are patient. They can
wait. They bide their time.
The choice that faced the
United States after 9-11 was
whether it would continue to
react to Islamic terror and try to
block the next attack, or whether
it would attempt to change the
political equation in the Middle
East by establishing a democratic
Iraq at its nexus.
It is now apparent that strategy
was deeply flawed. An inad-
equate number of troops were
charged with the task of building

a new nation before the enemy
was unconditionally defeated.
They have been dragged into the
middle of a nascent civil war,
while Iran is emboldened to
attack Israel through its proxy,
Hezbollah.
Accusations and contradic-
tions fly back and forth. The
Bush administration is criticized
increasingly for failing to make

the United States completely
safe from terrorists. But it is also
condemned for exaggerating that
same terrorist threat in order to
restrict civil liberties. And the
terrorists bide their time.
But this is the essential truth
of 9-11. That day has never
ended. We may not even see its
flames extinguished in our life-
times.

It is a struggle unlike any we
have ever engaged in. If there is
any lesson that must be taken
from 9-11 it is the realization
that the enemy will not be
appeased. Even if we choose not
to fight. E

opponents is prob-
ably wise. Their
polling has shown
that support for the
proposal falls off
dramatically when
it is pitched as a
matter of gender.
But polls also
indicate that among
women from blue-
collar families there
is backing for the
proposal because they see affir-
mative action as harming the
prospects of their husbands and
sons.
This is the third rail of state
politics. No candidate, no pub-
lic body, no major newspaper
endorses the MCRI. My own
feeling is that the initiative is far
too sweeping and may end up
with unanticipated consequen-
ces, especially in a state with an

economy as shaky as this one.
A judge also found dishonest
tactics by its supporters in the
petition gathering process and
that isn't nice, either.
Neither side has clean hands
when it comes to truthful con-
duct. The thing about democ-
racy, though, is that eventually
you've got to trust the judgment
of the people. Honesty never
damaged a good cause.
Women in California have
not been shuffled back to the
19th century, with opportunities
denied and doors slammed in
their faces. Harm to the pros-
pects of minorities has not come
to pass, either.
But that wouldn't make much
of a splash as a TV ad. It's only
the truth. ❑

E-mail letters of no more than 150

words to: letters@thejewishnews.com .

Reality Check

Truth In Advertising

S

everal months ago, I
predicted that oppo-
nents of the Michigan
Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI)
would choose to pitch their cam-
paign on gender instead of race.
The series of TV ads that have
been airing for the last several
weeks drives that message home.
A college softball coach, a den-
tist, a concerned dad and others
talk about the harmful effects
this proposal would have on
women if it passes in November.
"It's not just about race they
say.
It is dramatic stuff and
pitched on the same level as
most political ads. And I don't
mean that as a compliment.
The MCRI would have no
effect on college sports for
\vomen. They fall under the
federal Title IX program, and if
a university takes money from

the U.S. government they have to
play by those rules. Title IX over-
rides any state measure.
It also would not affect a
woman's ability to operate a
business or obtain credit. The
measure only addresses racial
and gender preferences by public
institutions. Private transactions
are completely outside its provi-
sions.
There is nothing in the MCRI
that would prevent universities
or governments from holding
job fairs or outreach programs
designed to target certain
groups. They could not hire
on the basis of race or gender,
however, only on an applicant's
qualifications.
All the recent figures indicate
that women already are the
majority in many elite schools
around the country, including
several top law schools. So a

measure such as the
MCRI would actually
protect their position
if colleges decided they
needed more males in
some programs for the
sake of diversity.
In California, where
this campaign against
preferences began,
there has been a drop
in the entry of women
into certain non-tradi-
tional fields. Most notably in the
construction industry.
But even with affirmative
action in place for many years,
women were not beating down
the doors to enter engineer-
ing and math programs at
Michigan's public universities.
Those who do tend to have unas-
sailable academic credentials.
How will they be harmed?
The strategy of the MCRI

George Cantor's e-mail address is

gcantor614@aol.com .

September 7 ® 2006

31