On the morning of September 11th, 2001, my wife and I were talking with our neighbors as we all waited at a bus stop to see our children off to school. I had just started becoming interested in amateur astronomy, so I was chatting a bit about it. One of our neighbors remarked that a local astronomy group often met on a nearby hill. She claimed that the hill was so high and the view so unobstructed that, on a clear day, from there in central Connecticut, one could see the World Trade Center towers. I never got the chance to verify her claim.

A few towns over from where we lived, there was a little store that puzzled me ever since I first saw it as a teenager. The store sold flags and flag accessories. I had no idea how it stayed in business: I drove by that store for years and never saw a single customer. But, a few days after 9/11, that store had a long line of customers waiting to get in.

My wife, who had lost a childhood friend in the attack, and who was active in the American Legion Auxiliary for most of her life, was heartened at the sudden patriotic display. I warned her then that it wasn’t going to last, that the Americans who hate this country would never allow it to last. And it wasn’t too long afterward that I noticed that, during any public display of patriotism and remembrance, any Ruling Class liberal present in the crowd would start to bristle. And soon after that, it became uncouth to show too many pictures of the attack, and then to show any at all.