On 9/11, we are blasted with reminders to “never forget.” I adamantly agree. Never forget 9/11.
Never forget what the government did and did not do leading up to the attacks.
Never forget how the government used the attacks to expand its power and attack us.
My top three never-forgets on 9/11:
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- Allowing the government to carry out intervention wars has a huge price in both American lives and dollars
- Every crisis will be used to expand government power; the bigger the crisis, the more power they grab
- The FBI federal organization should be shut down. Useful functions (if any) should be turned over to the individual States, where all police power is constitutionally required to be
Cost of Intervention Wars
About 3000 people were killed on 9/11, and over 8000 have died since in 9/11 attack and cleanup-related illnesses. Thousands of American service personnel have been killed in Middle East intervention wars.
The government has spent trillions of dollars on these interventions. Our money was spent directly on U.S. military action, funding governments and terrorist organizations, and providing weapons and training. Some of those funded include Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s military, al-Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden. For what?
From a realistic view of the results of U.S. interventions, no Middle Eastern country is better off today than before the U.S. government got involved. Trillions were spent while hundreds of thousands of people were killed, injured, and displaced from their homes and work. For what?
Osama bin Laden, a Saudi national (along with many of the 9/11 hijackers), was clear about why the attacks were made. It was in response to U.S. interventions in his part of the world. I am inclined to believe him on this question.
The Constitution is quite clear. Use of force overseas requires a declaration of war by Congress. Congress has never declared war on a Middle Eastern country. The Founders were right - never let one person decide when to go to war when to end a war, and also run the war. That is a power of a King, not a President.
As Dave Smith pointed out, “if you want to know who America’s next enemy is, see who we are funding right now”.
Power Grab
The federal government used the 9/11 attacks to expand its power and violate the Constitution significantly. The so-called “Patriot Act,” a blatant attack on the liberty of American patriots, was passed and signed into law 45 days after the attacks. As is usually the case, the name of the legislation is precisely the opposite of what it is about.
Artwork by Anthony Freda
Fear is the basis of government, and the government will always capitalize on that fear to grow itself. Speed matters in how much illegal power can be usurped from the people, hence the 45 days passage on what usually takes years to accomplish in Washington.
New unconstitutional powers the federal government assigned itself using fear after 9/11 as a handy excuse include collecting American’s cell phone records, demanding library borrowing habits, confiscating property, and labeling you a terrorist for being a member of a group. All without notification. Section 215 of the Patriot Act is an egregious violation of privacy and of the Constitution.
The TSA and Homeland Security were created using the 9/11 attacks as an excuse. QED.
FBI
The FBI knew about the 9/11 hijackers before the attack. Reports of suspicious Arab Muslim foreign nationals training to fly jetliners were provided to the FBI before the hijacking, including warning reports from FBI field agents to Headquarters. An FBI agent recommended before the attacks occurred that a review of flight schools throughout the country be conducted for other suspicious foreign national Arab pilots in training out of concern of terrorists using commercial jetliners. Flight schools reported suspicious Arab national pilots training to fly that were not particularly interested in learning to land. In total, the FBI is an assault on the liberty of U.S. citizens and has been since its beginning.
The FBI, as now run, is worse than useless. For the few actual jobs they do, we may want to turn the assets over to the individual states where all police power should be. Any good FBI agents should welcome the chance to escape the corrupt Washington DC organization.
Follow the Money
It is always helpful to follow the money. The money handed to Washington via the 17th Amendment and Federal Reserve directly contributed to the 9/11 attacks. The government carried out intervention wars in the Middle East using our money. Trillions of dollars of taxpayer money, money borrowed from future generations, and money printed out of thin air were necessary to pull this off.
artwork by Anthony Freda
To help resolve this problem, repeal the 17th Amendment and end the Fed. Curtail the power of Washington D.C. by cutting off the loot they can use.
The Senate was designed and specified as a representative body of the individual State legislatures, being the voice of State governments in Washington. The Founders in the 1788 ratified Constitution designed this as a key limit on the power of the Federal government. The 17th Amendment destroyed this by changing to direct election of Senators, making the Senate another version of the House of Representatives. This took out one of the important ways the Federal government was limited, both financially and against usurpation of State powers.
We should return to the 1788 version of the Constitution on both matters to better limit Washington DC. Eliminate direct taxation of individual’s income, as the Founder’s had banned. Return the Senate to be a representative body of the State legislatures, as the Founders defined. Both would reduce the ability of Washington to start and carry on foreign intervention wars, among other improvements.
Question
My Question of the Day: Without the 16th and 17th Amendments and the Federal Reserve, would 9/11 have happened?
