I think it was just the brand of right wing patriotism under Bush. That's back when people used to wear NYPD hats and t-shirts even though they weren't cops.

Control.

"You have to take off your shoes at the airport and then let a random person take pictures of you naked before getting on a flight because we need to prove that you're not a terrorist. Remember what happened the last time we didn't do that? You can either submit to us, or we can have another terrorist attack."

It also marks a time in history when people started going back to church in order to find some semblance of an explanation, and the churches like the increased attendance. They've got to keep us scared that the "terrorists" are around every corner, and they have the only solution.

It was pretty much stolen from Holocaust survivors. The original idea was 'never forget the Holocaust so that people will understand that hatred leads to genocide.'

It has no concrete meaning in this context as far as I can tell.

If you keep pickin’ that scab it ain’t gonna heal right.