Originally Posted by GUWonder
I look for evidence that we are a country at war, and the closest thing to a war I see are various levels of militancy (largely in foreign lands) while most people in the "Homeland" do as they always do without even knowing how many people from their own town and state have been lost in the most recent days, weeks, months or years. The government is engaged in police actions, but the people are not engaged in a war (or even the police actions underway). The closest most Americans come to a war is the government spending money like a drunken sailor on shore-leave during a war -- and then it's the government spending money we, as taxpayers in a "country at war", aren't paying for with hard cash yet.
I don't want to debate the issue of us being at war or the government being engaged in police actions. Over the last 13 years the US Gov has conducted numerous peace keeping missions, a couple that I have been an active member in, and other "police actions".
I believe the issue at hand without using the term "war" would be that we are a country in danger of being involved in another terrorist incident that could claim the lives of many, possibly now more than pre 9-11. Hopefully the security measures that have been enacted, whether by opinion poor or excellent, will assist in the prevention of another attack.
With the possibility of people losing lives, many people tend to try and be more cautious and are willing to make sacrifices to lean towards caution.