Hindsight is always (almost always, anyway) 20/20, but in this case I think my criticisms are justified. The United States of America had just been attacked by a cowardly group of religious fanatics. Many people were murdered in this attack, and our government did not respond correctly.
Right after the attack, King George II should have flown his private luxury liner to ground zero in New York, set up a podium within sight of the World Trade Center and given a televised speech defying our enemies, condemning this cowardly, despicable attack and including a solemn promise to hunt the attackers down and kill them, right along with their supporters. Then His Royal Majesty should have remained in New York and done what he could to help the recovery effort until the immediate crises was finished. Instead he took off in Air Force One and remained somewhere in the air, safely removed from the action.
King George II and the Federal Government lost no time in enacting the Patriot Act, a Federal law that pretty much filled the wish list of every Draconian law enforcement group in existence at the expense of the privacy and well-being of the law abiding citizens of the United States. I note that the Ayatollah Obama has failed to remove this odious law, just as he's failed to close GTMO - but I'm not surprised. Expecting that the government will actually relinquish any authority over the
Every single one of the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 should have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously, and naturally were not. Instead, the Federal government couldn't agree on how to fund a suitable memorial, and the owners of the land where the memorial was to be constructed dug their heels in and wouldn't sell the land. If the United States wanted to use its power of eminent domain for a good purpose, here's an opportunity. Nothing like that has happened.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was formed and flying will never be the same. While I have encountered reasonable TSA employees, they tend to be very few and far between. Mostly the TSA employees are jack booted thugs who wanted a gun, a badge and a white boy resisting arrest off camera, but failed the police department psyche examination three times running so they have to settle for less. A lot less. Now the TSA wants the authority to arrest people, which they'll eventually get. What the Federal government should have learned from the attack is that the real defense against such an attack are the passengers on the flight. Consider the heroes on Flight 93, without whose bravery and self-sacrifice the attack would very likely have succeeded. Consider their families.
King George II promptly invaded Iraq and Afghanistan at an absolutely staggering cost, and without establishing concrete victory conditions. If we invaded these countries in an effort at retribution, that's fine, but at the very least the government should establish just what will be accomplished by the invasion before landing the troops.
This is the tip of the iceberg. Our government at all levels becomes more repressive every day. Government bureaucracies are harder to navigate and petty bureaucrats are more obstructive than ever. The sense of entitlement is greater and more profound than I've ever experienced, as is the national debt. My real plan for retirement involves residing overseas. Sayonara U.S., hello Bangkok.
1 comment:
Patriot Day has changed all of us for the permanent, not temporary. On this day, I feel on edge and watch every corner. Today is the first day I am home and not working. So... I am still on edge watching the news. Ugh. Can't win. I agree it should be a federal holiday. Problem is the beaurocrats can't get it through their head to give another paid holiday and America follow suit. It's all about the money, not the honor. And perhaps they feel they need all government employees working and guarding the assets.
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