Liberalism Built on a 9/11 Memory Gap

Many younger citizens lack the visceral memory of 9/11 that justified extraordinary policy choices at the time, yet those choices (open‑ended counterterrorism, expanded executive power, and a rhetoric of liberal universalism) remain embedded in institutions and elite narratives. That disjunction — between lived memory and institutional continuity — helps explain contemporary generational divides over foreign policy, civil liberties, and the credibility of liberal internationalism. — Spotlighting the intergenerational memory gap reframes debates about legitimacy and reform of post‑9/11 institutions and foreign‑policy commitments.