It’s been three years since the “free world” as we know it has been rocked, the sanctity of our freedom ruined by twenty terrorists in four commercial airlines hitting American soil. With a lot of talk of national security, the usage (or non-usage) of September 11 as a political podium, and the military aftermath - and whether we did what we really should have - there are still the memories of those that witnessed it firsthand, walking down the Manhattan streets on an otherwise beautiful Tuesday morning, commuters on the Loop in Washington, just heading to work, or visiting the nation’s capital for the first time.

But what has changed? What has really changed?

That Was Then

Terrorism was something that happened “over there.” Not necessarily point out any one spot. Just not here.

Of course, terrorism in the United States “never” happens, and no one would dare attack us. Perhaps it’s that arrogance that made it so exciting for someone to actually do it.

But it could never happen to us.

This Is Now

The world’s largest democratic nation was targeted with four of our own commercial airliners. Twenty terrorists planned for over four years. They came to America, learned to fly planes, took pictures, lived with us, and waited.

We now have a National Security team, headed by the new Director of Homeland Security. The CIA, FBI, and other agencies have been cleaned up (despite the fact they still make the same mistakes as before). We launched an assault on Afghanistan, rid them of the Taliban, and before finding the leader of Al Quada launched a second assault based on bad information in Iraq.

Terrorists are recognized as a group of sophisticated men and women with evil and diabolical plans to rue the world of democracy. Three years ago, they were nothing more than thugs that strapped bombs on kids and drove cars packed with explosives into packed busses. Unorganized. Independent. Filled with religious hate.

When did they change? When it happened to us

More To Come

Anyone that believes this is over, that America is safe and protected, and that nothing could ever happen again is sadly mistaken. Don’t get me wrong… I would love to live my life without the distant fear of someone crashing another plane, bus, or train to create chaos. But no matter what the US government says, not enough has been done and what has done has been done a bit too late.

Americans cannot live without our civil liberties. They are the basis of our Constitution; the “American Dream.” We have the ability to say what we want, do what we want, and go where we want to without the threat of our government telling us what’s right or wrong.

Which is utter bullshit.

I have two copies of FHM. They are both uniquely different from each other. Although both have pictures of scantily clad women, jokes, and other articles for men, one of them has naked - or at the very least topless - women. That copy is from the UK, where it is socially acceptable to have in one of its daily newspapers the “Page 3″ girl, a picture of a topless woman.

It’s not pornography. It’s a topless woman. But in America, it would cause a major uproar.

Crime per capita is higher in the US than it is in the UK. Police and local citizens do not have guns. But in the US, it’s in the Constitution that we have the right to bear arms. In an effort to reduce crime, maybe we should as the Brits, and abolish guns altogether. We’ve amended that constitution before, so why not amend that?

Think of how many people die each year because of gun-inflicted injuries. Accidents. Gun fights. Organized crime hits. Think of how many lives would be saved.

What about hunters? People that legitimately want to use guns for food or shelter? I say fine. Buy your shotguns. Hunt. Get your hunting license.

Handguns. Automatic weapons. Military-style weapons. Hunters don’t need that, so why does anyone else? Militias are formed, like in Ruby Ridge. Criminals take advantage of the ease one has in purchasing weapons, like the over-armed gunmen that robbed the bank in California several years ago.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. Americans, myself included, have taken our civil liberties for granted. Our country is weakened by our arrogance. Our safety is lessened by our own recklessness. And our civil liberties blind us, making us think that it’s our freedom that will help us prevail.

On the contrary, it’s our freedom that’s holding us back.

They wrote the Constitution in the eighteenth century. In two hundred years, our society has changed many times over. Technology has overwhelmed us, in ways most people don’t even understand.

The Constitution made the US the land of the free. Our doors are open to people from all countries. Everyone is protected by our laws in our borders.

Sadly, that’s what the terrorists used against us once.

So what has really changed in three years?