Is homeland security supposed to protect all of us, or just the President? [View All]

If they wanted to demonstrate freedom and security to the world, why didn't they make all of DC a safe zone, just like they make airports and airplanes safe zones. Then everyone would have been able to "enjoy" (gag, spit, excuse me), "enjoy" the parade without having to look in between cops to see it. Wouldn't that have been a better demonstration of security and freedom?

By the same token, why should the 9/11 attacks have changed our society at all? If national security had done their job correctly, they should have just gone after the perpetrators, done justice to them, made an example of them to deter future terrorism, and strengthened our borders - and show that the terrorist attacks had no lasting effect on the U.S. as a whole.

Why should our daily lives within the border change at all as a result of the attack? The fact that they changed means the terrorists did accomplish something, even if it wasn't their exact goal. The fact that we have this color-coded terror alert system means that national security is a complete failure and that we are not secure at all. They are still failing to keep us secure.