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The 9/11 Message that Terrifies Washington
by John Anthony
Perhaps the greatest attribute of the American spirit is that even in the aftershocks of the worst wreckage, we seek to learn. Rather than flounder in horrors that should have never happened, we pursue ways to assure they will not again.
September 11, 2001 provided what may be Americans’ greatest opportunity to learn.
In the weeks following 9/11 Americans regained camaraderie and national pride. Race issues receded, government protected groups found less need for protection, American flags waved from car roofs and highway overpasses. The quiet made friends and the typically thoughtless made way for strangers.
There was unity. A cohesion many seek again. Many turned to God, technology, the past, and the government for direction. But the most valuable lesson of 9/11 is what did not happen.
No military fighter jets shrieked in to deflect the four doomed airliners.
No clever FBI worker spotted the trail of clues and subdued the murderers at the last minute.
No NSA employee heeded the data warning of the ominous thread between the killers and Al Qaeda.
The lesson was thunderous. At the time we needed it most, government was absent.
That is not the fault of government, but of its nature. That nature in 2001 and since, now begs Americans to revisit that message. To re-evaluate our relationship with Washington, with politicians and with our own community neighbors.
The government we see today is alien to our Founders’ vision. Rather than limited and controlled, it has become gargantuan. The more it grows the more flawed its outcomes.
- The government’s 2005 response to Hurricane Katrina became tabloid mockery. Faulty sections of New Orleans’s levees constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers, frozen communications between the state and federal government, and mass disorganization characterized the lead up and inept response to the disaster.
- The financial meltdown of 2008 began with demands by the federal government for banks to lower lending standards through the Clinton-Bush years. HUD’s pushing Fannie and Freddie to back trillions of dollars of “affordable mortgages,” thereby increasing the numbers of poorly qualified buyers, exacerbated the problem. This government-fueled chain reaction eventually led to the mortgage bubble and financial crash.
- The government’s 2010 takeover of the healthcare industry, rather than save families money, generated premium increases higher than before the Affordable Care Act passed. High deductibles and limited doctor choice are reducing the quality of care for many.
Nor are all failures on such a grand scale.
Government alarms about the life-threatening risks of second hand smoke turned out false.
In a total 2012 U.S. embarrassment, 11 secret service agents tasked with guarding President Obama spent their first night in Cartagena, Columbia partying with prostitutes on taxpayer money.
As the failures escalate, Americans are in the conflicting position of distrusting Washington, at the same time they depend on it.
Infrastructure grants from the Department of Transportation, Title 1 grants from the Department of Education and HUD’s affordable housing funds are budgetary necessities for states, counties and cities.
That dependence is the career politician’s lifeblood. Distraction is their heartbeat.
To sidetrack Americans from the government’s failures and gather votes, our government pits special interest groups against one another and fabricates causes to which they rally.
Gay rights, African American rights, crime rates, the wage gap and more continue to keep Americans divided. Yet the more politicians decry them, the worse they become.
Race riots are becoming epidemic, crime is rising after a decade of decline and income equality is worse than before the government campaign to see its end.
When Islamic terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, America was already in conflict.
In April of 2001, Socialist leaders continued to gin up “Black rage” over the Cincinnati riots following the police shooting of African American Timothy Thomas. Meanwhile the right argued to blame the criminals not the defenders.
In May, the research article “Hatred in the Hallways” called for federal intervention to prevent violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Sound familiar? Politicians use these same issues as distractions today.
- President Obama created a moral dilemma and massive clashes between tolerant Americans and the well-meaning LGBT community by forcing schools to allow men in girl’s bathrooms based on gender identity.
- Shortly after the Zimmerman-Martin trial, President Obama spoke about the decision from the White House. He no sooner told Americans “the jury has spoken” than he lamented that “…Martin could have been me…” He then used his speech to “retry” the case from the WH with a reverse outcome.
By exploiting society’s weaknesses, politicians create endless clashes, define special interest groups, and then passionately defend them to harvest votes for the next election cycle.
As the conflicts grow, people turn to the same government that exacerbated the problems to provide their solutions. It is ironic that the very politicians that caused the 2008 financial meltdown have their names on the Dodd-Frank law that will supposedly prevent its recurrence.
The only way to regain American unity and strength is to remove our dependence on the federal government. Local communities must return to the principles that built cohesion. We must relearn ways to live on the money our communities have. Relearn how to work together to help the poor, build low income housing and find alternate ways to raise additional monies when needed.
That is the lesson of September 11, 2001. That government is not the answer to our problems. That without it, we position ourselves to win back the camaraderie, creativity and pride that truly built our great nation.
The United States government must never be the central character in our hopes for the future. At best, beyond defense, it plays a supporting role. Our job is to see that it plays that role honestly
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