So now that the 10th anniversary of 9-11has passed us by and the recitation of the names and rerunning of the old news footage has been packed away for another year, I think its time to take a look at what I call the downfall of my beloved America.
My wife and I were talking about the attacks Sunday, as many Americans did, and in doing so, I had time to revisit my thoughts after the attacks and quite simply we as a country missed the boat on ensuring this never happens again.
From the very second that the first plane hit the Twin Towers, international terrorism won. Now, I know you don’t want to hear that, but it is nonetheless true. After the initial shock wore off, our government, led by President Bush knuckled under to fear and doubt and began a systematic stripping away of our personal freedoms and rights on a level that would make the Founders puke in their wigs. President Obama, for all his criticisms of Bush, took the baton and has kept them in place.
To be sure, I’m not the kind of guy who should be President, hell; I probably should stay out of politics altogether because I’m sort of a nationalist at heart. Not an isolationist; trying to make it without allies, isn’t practical and never has been. No, I’m a nationalist with the protection of the homeland and her citizens from all enemies foreign and domestic at my core. I swore and oath to do that, and it didn’t come with an expiration date.
When America was attacked by the Japanese in 1941, we did not sit back and debate what we should do or look for ways to settle old scores and we damn sure didn’t worry about what the world would think of our actions. What we did was put our military machine in gear and turned the generals loose to get pay back. When President Truman was handed the devastating power of the atomic bomb, he didn’t buckle under it. Yes, the Executive branch and the War Department discussed the ramifications of the use of the bomb, but they saw that the hell released by the bombs would ensure that the enemy who attacked us would never do so again. And that nobody else would consider it wise to try, and they didn’t for a long time. But they forgot and we let them.
Somehow, along the way to 9-11 America’s political machine lost its stones and began to play fair, instead of paying to win. Not playing to win is anti-American. But then it has been a long time since the function of government was about being American.
Korea, Vietnam, even the Gulf War were all winnable but the politicians wouldn’t let us. What, you think the Gulf was a win? Sorry, if it had been a win then Hussein wouldn’t have been around in 2001 for Bush 43 to have an excuse to attack. No, if Bush 41 would have ignored the weak spirits in the UN and the bleeding hearts in Congress and let Stormin’ Norman roll us into Baghdad most the problem would have been solved.
Following the attacks on America we should have brought the full force of our military might down upon the countries that harbored and financed the terrorists. I am talking Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan. I am not talking about ground forces, I mean the full payload, everything short of nukes unless we ran out of bombs before we ran out of real estate. Yes, I know innocents would have died, but innocents did die here too.
The world has learned over the last couple of centuries that our government, regardless of which party is in charge, will only go so far before they cry uncle. War is a messy and awful thing; it should be, so we don’t do it unless we have to. We had the ability to crush not only their ability to hurt anyone again, but also their will to want to.
Our country is dissolving; our government is completely broken, our economy is a global laughing stock and we are no longer safe from our elected leaders or our enemies. If we do not do something about it, this empire will fall.
As President Jefferson once said, “a little revolution now and then is a good thing.”
One final point
While the 9-11 memorial at Ground Zero is very moving and while it is good to remember the victims, the real 9-11 Memorial should have been built in Shanksville, PA where the first battle of the war was fought by regular American’s who were not going to allow the enemy win. Those heroes are often overshadowed by the praise lauded on the Police and Fire Fighters who lost their lives that day. But let’s be honest, those men and women went to work everyday knowing that they could lose their lives. The passengers on Flight 93 were just living their lives when they were faced with the reality of that day. They did not hesitate, when they saw it was up to them, they acted. The site of their valiant deaths would be much more fitting as a memorial than the site of the victims of that day.
FULL DISCLOSURE NOTE – I voted for President Bush in 2000 and 2004, any decisions he made I have a share of the responsibility for; along with everyone else who voted for him. Being that I voted for him and by default hired him to do a job, I can complain about what my employee did. Not hypocrisy, I own my portion of the responsibility.
