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When it comes to stress, how we respond is more important than what we’re responding to.
That same principle applies to terrorism. Too many of our reactions to 9-11 magnified the impact of that enemy action.
9-11 gave green light to boots on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan and about 135 other countries. In a success for Bin Laden, we doubled our defense budget by funding today’s military with tomorrow’s military. Our children will suffer greatly for that short-sightedness.
Bin Laden scored another win with the Fourth Amendment corruptions of the Patriot Act. Political opportunists masquerading as Republicans and Democrats turned a temporary stress response into an eternal public policy empowering our greatest enemy – predators from within. Ben Franklin said it best, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
While he still could, Seal Team Six’s priority target no doubt smiled at Washington’s post 9-11 economic meddling. Side-stepping the self-correcting nature of a free market made a bad thing worse. Rigged agreements with our trade partners, a progressive switch from production to consumption policies, and bailouts for unions, crony capitalists, and political patrons damaged America far more than Bin Laden. Once again, Ben Franklin offers timely advice, “Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power.”
Retracting a reactive stress response to 9-11 begins with remembering those who can’t manage America’s affairs shouldn’t be trying to fix foreign lands even more corrupt than our own.
A return to the greatness of our inspired American Dream is possible, but not through the siren calls of socialism and ever bigger government. History demonstrates that both are poisons to the liberty, opportunity, and responsibility found in our dream.
Embracing a sincere mission of energy independence, fair trade, tax reform, living within our means, and contributing to a hungry world will produce immediate results. Rethinking our affections for foreign adventurism, porous borders, and entitlements over responsibilities will put gravy on that biscuit.
Any society with a future must prioritize the rule of law. A selective legal system dominated by political correctness and self-service assures cultural regression. Unenforced street parties featuring fountain stripteases and topless fifteen year olds offers local example.
9-11 was a painful wake-up call. Anniversary ceremonies help us remember our dead. We honor them best by working to preserve the America Dream – not fulfilling Bin Laden’s nightmare.
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