Politics & Power Quote by Kenny Marchant

Marchant’s sentence isn’t trying to describe the post-9/11 world so much as to keep a particular story about it in circulation: that the “war on terror” is a coherent, winnable project with measurable “successes,” and that the only real threat is wavering resolve. The key move is the framing of history as a straight line from September 11 to now, with the United States at the front of a “powerful coalition.” That phrase quietly turns American leadership into the default setting of global order, while “coalition” launders unilateral power through the language of partnership.

The subtext is political maintenance. By invoking 9/11 as the origin point, the quote draws on a shared national trauma to pre-empt skepticism: if you question strategy, budgets, surveillance powers, or overseas interventions, you risk being cast as undermining “unity” and “steadfast[ness].” “Imperative” does the heavy lifting here, a moral command disguised as pragmatic advice. It’s less an argument than a loyalty test.

Context matters: Marchant, a Republican congressman, is speaking from within an era when terrorism functioned as an all-purpose rationale for policy, from military authorization to domestic security infrastructure. The careful vagueness of “terrorism around the world” keeps the mission indefinitely expandable, while naming al-Qaeda anchors the statement in a familiar villain, even as threats morph and multiply. The rhetoric offers reassurance by simplifying complexity: success is happening, leadership is clear, and doubt is the enemy.