Are We Worthy?
Today is the fourteenth anniversary of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, and I am angry — more than I’ve ever been in my life.
So many people were lost that day — we all remember where we were. I was serving in uniform at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina and I remember watching CNN in utter disbelief as airplanes crashed into buildings and people jumped to their deaths from a hundred stories up. A civilian I worked with said something to me that’s been seared on my brain ever since: “Don’t you know what this is? It’s an act of war.” That cut me to the bone, sticks with me today, and will be with me when I go to my grave. This was our generation’s Fort Sumter…Pearl Harbor…and JFK assassination. Are we worthy today of the sacrifices that have been made since, by so many? Is the world really safer than it was fourteen years ago?
It is NOT.
Since that day, we have squandered precious treasure and human resources screwing up places like Iraq. It was a dubious prospect at best when we crossed the Kuwaiti border in 2003, and that same patch of ground is in even worse shape today. What were the sacrifices of precious life and limb all for? Now ISIS is running around killing Christians who don’t convert to Islam and raping women for not submitting to sexual abuse. Yet our shallow-minded politicians (who seem to care more for their own re-election than they do the people they represent) do very little, the threat grows, and poor immigration policies that keep our borders open to the world have (and will continue to) allow people to enter our nation — unchallenged — who would do us all harm.
We must not forget that today is also the anniversary of another horrifying event: the deaths of four Americans in a terrorist attack at Benghazi, Libya in 2012. This was another complete screw-up by our elected officials, made worse by the blatant un-truths that followed. In the immediate days afterwards, our president’s staff insisted the attacks were all because of a You Tube video, knowing full well that they were not. In fact, it was inaction by the Obama administration that contributed to the deaths to begin with — these were Americans who put their lives on the line to represent our nation in a dangerous place. Have we gone after those responsible? Have we even investigated what happened so it can be avoided in the future? No — not even close. In fact, the whole thing has been unbelievably politicized and the facts covered up. First to distract from Barack Obama’s presidential election of 2012, and now to distract From Hillary Clinton’s election prospects in 2016. That’s right — the Secretary of State who bears ultimate responsibility for American deaths abroad (and has since mishandled highly classified information on unencrypted email systems…and lied about it) now stands a good chance of being the President of the United States.
Yes. Since 9/11/01, our country has ridden the coat tails of our politicians, both Republican and Democrat, into ruin. The United States enjoyed unprecedented unity following 9/11 — not just domestically, but with the WORLD. George Bush’s Iraq invasion killed that dead. Barack Obama’s divisive politics made it worse starting in 2008, and continue to make things worse today. Fourteen years after September 11th, this country is as divided (if not more) as it was in April 1861 when the Civil War began. Students at colleges (who barely remember 9/11) insist that our American flag is a symbol of hatred and oppression, and have participated in efforts to remove it from common areas on campuses. Their professors teach that the terrorist attacks of 2001 were our fault, and that the real victims were the terrorists themselves. Finally, rather than revering our first responders as we did after New York and Washington DC, we now live in a domestic climate where our cops are the enemy and thugs and criminals are the real sufferers.
To make matters worse, ALL of this is fomented by none other than our president himself, his staff, and other politicians and “civil rights leaders” of his ilk. Even worse than that, our military — the very force that stands between us and the bad guys — has been politicized and decimated to a shell of it’s former self as a result of sequestration and other moronic political efforts. Besides becoming a petri dish of social experimentation, it appears weak and barely capable of meeting the threat posed to us by foreign forces who want to kill us — that’s US…you, me, our soldiers, politicians, grandmothers, and children. These people want to come to our houses and blow us up while we lie in our beds. Believe it. And our wise president and Secretary of State have literally grown that threat through their actions — by paving the way for the likes of Iran to get their hands on a nuclear weapon. That nuke technology will find it’s way into the hands of other bad guys, and the threat will continue to grow in the future. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a nuclear attack of some kind (dirty bomb or otherwise) happens in a major western city in my lifetime, maybe within the next 10–20 years. I also won’t be surprised if we see more terrorist attacks in the United States that will match or exceed the carnage of what we saw on 9/11/01. Many experts agree with this assessment — that it isn’t a question of “if,” but a question of “when.”
The world is most CERTAINLY a more dangerous place, and the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of those we elect to lead us. Is this what we want? This veteran doesn’t. What the hell are we doing? We are better than this!
So what do we do? We MUST act, but how?
First, we need to get angry. We cannot allow this country to be divided or destroyed. We need to use our power to vote, constantly communicate with our representatives and insist on smart policy decisions. With the internet and social media, it’s never been simpler. None of this is “right versus left” or “Democrat versus Republican.” Folks, this is a question of bare-ass common sense and right versus wrong. Our elected officials need to get their priorities in order. Right now they are NOT, and we are being more poorly led than we’ve been in a century.
Second, we need to get involved with grassroots organizations that focus on constitutionalism and education. Organize, act, and influence. The government serves you and me — “We The People” — not the other way around. We have a Constitution that is the basis of every law we have. It needs to be followed, not systematically ignored.
Third, we need to realize that our national defense is EVERYTHING. None of our domestic politics matter if we don’t have a strong national defense. Gay marriage, Planned Parenthood, immigration, racism, etc., whatever the issue is — none of this matters at all unless we have a strong force allowing us to run our country the way we want. Think about it — will you be able to fight for your pet domestic issue if terrorists are engaging in mass shootings or detonating car bombs at our workplaces and schools? No. Defense comes first, period — that means a strong military. It’s an enabler for everything else. Perhaps it needs some reforming — that’s fine. But it cannot be de-funded and shrunk to the point of ineffectiveness.
Fourth, understand that there are people in the world that do not understand diplomacy, group hugs, or singing Kum Bah Yah. They know one thing only: violence, and most of them don’t like us. Trust me — having served a lot of years in uniform, I’ve been there, I’ve seen it, and I know. This is how they operate. If we back off and look weak, they will attack. If we buff up and show force, they will back off. Fear is a motivator. These people are a scourge, they must be stopped before they come here, and that means we need to take the fight to them before they bring it to us. That means if we go in, we go in full-force with everything we’ve got. Blow the HELL out of them. It means collateral damage and that’s unfortunate, but that’s how it is. There is no moral high ground. Only strength and weakness. This is a conflict of biblical proportions — when it’s defined in its simplest form, it is nothing more than a battle of good versus evil.
Last, and probably most importantly, we need to teach our kids. Most don’t remember 9/11, but they need to understand the utter chaos and horror we felt that day. TEACH them — it is up to us. Our public schools, rife with the stunningly-absurd-political-crap of Common Core, won’t do it.
Despite our sometimes problematic history and all of our faults, this country is the greatest that has ever existed on the planet earth. The United States of America has been a beacon of hope since our birth in 1776, and we have done more good in the world than ANY other country has done in the history of humanity. Are we perfect? No. Far from it, but people have come here ever since our early days searching for the American dream and a better life. Don’t believe it? Ask illegal immigrants who sneak across the Rio Grande undercover of darkness or stow away in shipping containers across the Pacific Ocean to get here. We are still great, but that way of life is threatened today — both by forces on the international stage as well as the domestic — more than it was on September 11th. If we continue down the path we’re on, we can expect to be relegated to the list of history’s biggest failures.
There is such a thing as American exceptionalism. Be worthy of our countrymen and women who have sacrificed everything. Fight for it.
