What is built at Ground Zero will either be a collective triumph or a lasting shame. The only reason awe-inspiring new Twin Towers are not standing tall today in Lower Manhattan is that a powerful few were allowed to block the will of the disorganized many.

Since September 11, 2001, the majority of New Yorkers and their fellow Americans have wanted to see the Twin Towers rise again. Most of us have always believed in our hearts that this was the only fitting response to the murder of almost 3000 people that day. But Ground Zero quickly became a magnet for those who believed they were ordained to stamp their own image on the future World Trade Center. And the most popular course – rebuilding the Twin Towers – was off the table from the start, for reasons that have never been adequately explained or understood.

The Twin Towers Alliance has published an 80-page booklet, Saving the Dream – A Report to the Nation, which is meant to be a wake-up call. Those who never had the legitimate authority to impose the existing plan on the rest of us would have us believe that we are stuck with their choices, whether we like it or not. The mistakes they have made should not be tolerated, even if they prove to be expensive to correct, because not correcting them would prove far more costly in the long run. If doing what’s right doesn’t matter at Ground Zero, then our country has far worse problems than the recent credit meltdown and a crisis of confidence. Our very democracy is at stake.

Fortunately, there is now a fully developed plan for 21st-century Twin Towers that has impressed everyone who has looked at it. Five years in development, it would not only bring back the most famous skyline in the world, but would save billions of dollars, could be built faster than the current plan and would finally give the people what they have wanted all along. In other words, the right thing to do would also be the smart thing to do.

On September 11, 2001, hundreds of brave men and women rushed into two burning buildings to save their fellow citizens. They and thousands of others lost their lives that day. The least we can do is make sure that what is built on the hallowed ground where they died is not a monument to dishonesty and mediocrity, but instead, an enduring tribute to the fallen and a call to greatness.

Please check out the website and online booklet and pass this message on to everyone on your list.That is all it will take for us to defeat those who think that they are above the will of the American people.