I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. The world's been turned upside down since September 11, some for the good, some not.
Some intellectually fashionable ideas are out, such as the concept that the United States is to blame for every global injustice. Ending the death penalty will be a harder sell, as will the international criminal court. Why turn over judgment of our actions to judges of cultures perhaps opposed to our own?
Unfortunately, substantive tax reform's going to be tougher, and social security reform is out of reach. Then again, events have put fast track trade legislation back in the picture, and replaced the politically correct military of the Clinton years with a real military build up; a missile defense will likely be deployed.
On the other hand, big government spending's back — not just the necessary kind, but for everybody who muscles up to the trough. There's a chance for more government regulation as well. But if President Bush uses his new political capital to strengthen traditional structures, a brighter world could be the lasting legacy of September 11.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont. Next time, reforming uninsurance.