October 4, 2001 Capital A Pivotal Point In American Life IT IS EASY TO ASSERT that Sept. 11 "changed everything." It certainly is redefining normalcy in New York and Washington, where the sound of a siren or the darkness of a blown fuse revives the anxiety of that terrible Tuesday. But life is changing irreversibly in peaceful places such as Tyler, Texas, too.
The sting of the terrorist attack will fade, albeit more slowly for those whose loved ones perished. But Sept. 11 looks like one of those pivot points in American life. Its true significance will be clear only with the hindsight of history. Three weeks is time enough, though, to begin to see the magnitude of the changes -- and they aren't limited to New York and Washington. Before Sept. 11, Americans worried about the growing capacity of government and business to use technology to instantly retrieve and share intimate details of our lives. When the Department of Health and Human Services was drafting new privacy rules for medical records last year, it got 52,000 comments. Today, concern about privacy is displaced by concern about security. At Tyler's tiny airport, the screeners open every carry-on bag and examine every crevice. But no one complains, even silently, about exposing dirty underwear in a public place. Public pressure to protect the confidentiality of financial information, the subject of those small-print notices stuffed in bills and bank statements, is now countered by a more urgent need to track the terrorists' money trail. Technologies that seemed frightening to many last month -- such as the cameras and software that scan and identify faces in public places -- seem comforting today. Polls show a surge in support for a national identity card, especially when it is described as a way to combat terrorism. BEFORE SEPT. 11, the U.S. was striving for frictionless air travel, offering boarding passes at computer terminals and baggage check-in at downtown counters. Complaints about air travel weren't about fares, which were driven down by competition, or safety, but about delays caused by the popularity of air travel. Today, we are putting friction back into airplane check-ins -- and that, along with fear of hijacking, may drive American families back into their cars. "The generation that dominates most markets, the baby boomers, are obsessed with safety and their own well-being, more than any other generation that has preceded them," says Jim Bulin, a Northville, Mich., consultant to the auto industry. 0See more information about some of the items mentioned in this column. * * * Please send comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] We'll post selected replies at WSJ.com/CapitalExchange2 on Sunday. The generation that put bike helmets on kids and durable car seats in minivans will be reluctant to fly to Disneyland or Club Med. The attacks have revived talk of building a world-class high-speed rail network. But that's just talk. For now, many more families will be taking vacations by car. Before Sept. 11, the U.S. was, with some hesitation, erasing its national borders. A long-simmering dispute over allowing Mexican trucks to travel U.S. highways was nearing resolution. The border with Canada was all but invisible. President Bush was pondering ways to legalize the status of immigrants from Mexico who came here illegally. Today, we are fortifying our borders again. The aerial photos of trucks waiting to carry parts from Canadian factories to Detroit-area auto plants are just the most tangible evidence. Congress is moving to fortify the Canadian border. The power of globalization to wash away the nation's borders like ocean waves seems less inexorable at a moment when the president has created an office of homeland security. THE IMPORTANCE of government was widely questioned before Sept. 11. For a time, Washington was plain boring to many. Then, thanks to Bill Clinton, it became fascinating in the way a soap opera is fascinating. And Washington became a venue for sitcoms. The power of markets to produce prosperity was self-evident; the potential to privatize functions once reserved to government appeared unlimited. There was debate, but there was no doubt which side was winning. Today, the centrality of government -- particularly the one in Washington -- is unquestioned. The government is criticized for not foreseeing or preventing the attacks, and for the adequacy and shape of its military and economic response. But no one is calling Washington irrelevant. The widespread belief that a federal takeover of airport security is the best way to assure travelers of their safety suggests a slowing in the momentum to privatize everything, no matter how strong the economic case for privatization and competition. The lasting impact of Sept. 11 is likely to be greatest on Americans in their late teens and early 20s, "the people who are still young enough to have their values being formed," Mr. Bulin suggests. For them, Sept. 11 will likely prove as important in shaping attitudes and behavior as the traumatic Kennedy assassination and the divisive Vietnam War were for an earlier generation. And it is truly impossible to predict just how that will show itself in the decades ahead. -- David Wessel Write to David Wessel at [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resources For recent polls on national identity cards, see www.fabmac.com/issues.html4 www.people-press.org/terrorist01rpt.htm5 *** 6Out in the Heartland, the Word 'Normal' Seems Possible Again (Sept. 26) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- URL for this Article: http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB1002146366879715800.djm Hyperlinks in this Article: (1) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (2) http://WSJ.com/CapitalExchange (3) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (4) http://www.fabmac.com/issues.html (5) http://www.people-press.org/terrorist01rpt.htm (6) http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB1001450707867348600.djm
