Choices

To succumb to fear is to commit societal suicide. This is the threat the mix of terrorism -- mostly two oceans away, but we scare easy -- and clamoring proto-fascists in the Republican primaries offer. As a country we have choices.

Thomas Edsall summarizes:

Terrorist attacks, especially if they are reinforced by new assaults, have the potential to undermine the legitimacy of a tolerant liberalism. Based on the present risk of terrorist violence here and abroad, this is a threat Democrats cannot avoid. The goal of terrorism is to destroy the liberal state. ...

The liberal state isn't perfect, but it is a darn sight better than the alternatives.