The Many Legacies of 9/11
SEP 14, 2026
I went on “Judging Freedom” today to discuss the many dark legacies of 9/11. This video is especially worth watching for Judge Napolitano’s summary of the PATRIOT Act and how it degraded our fourth amendment protections under the U.S. Constitution. Unlike him, I have not read all of the PATRIOT Act.
I had many thoughts both before and after my interview with the Judge. Perhaps the most disturbing to me is the sense of how much my country has embraced war as a creative act, as a force for good, as equivalent to freedom. Hence names like “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and “Operation Enduring Freedom” for the Iraqi and Afghan Wars. Barack Obama had his “good” war (Afghanistan) and his “bad” one (Iraq), even as Hillary Clinton chortled and gloated over the death of Gaddafi in Libya when she was Obama’s Secretary of State.
There was a time when Americans saw war as corruption—as the most insidious threat to democracy (James Madison), as brutal, stupid, and often futile (General Dwight D. Eisenhower). Ever since 9/11, if not before, too many Americans (especially those who don’t have to fight) have come to embrace war as positive, even “good.” This is among the most worrisome signs of creeping fascism—the identification of war with freedom, with patriotism, openly adopted and supported by both political parties in America.
Militarized madness, if left uncorrected and unopposed, will destroy freedom and liberty.
The Judge and I also briefly discussed Islamophobia and the death toll in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria. The harsh reality of hundreds of thousands killed, and millions displaced, during the War on Terror is rarely mentioned in the mainstream media here, and usually goes unacknowledged in 9/11 memorial ceremonies.
I find two intertwined things very disturbing: 1) aside from a few figures such as the judge, this is absolutely no discussion, examination, resolution as to the three completely understandable reasons why this country was attacked, in retribution, for all its meddling, to put it charitably, in the Middle East, and 2) the Orwellian “Patriot Act” was ready on the shelf for the right moment. What this says is that there is a Deep State, it is impervious to any meaningful control or oversight or accountability. Democracy is to be undercut by it, not protected. It serves the 1% in funneling more wealth from existing sources to them; assuring it stays with them; looking for new sources; bankrolling Israel for whatever indiscernible reason as it otherwise means nothing to this country.
At some (quickly approaching) point there will be no more wealth to extract from the have-nots, no prospect for future wealth creation as nearly all economic resources will have been consumed by the MICIMATT-SH, and no sustainability gained from foreign interventions. The Death Star will have collapsed upon itself.
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We really are living on borrowed money. When a loan is made, money is created out of thin air. Not only the federal government but state and local governments and individuals have also borrowed from the future. This creates inflation and at the same time the AI push has driven the stock market way up. It isn’t just graduates that are in deep debt. There is always talk of student loan forgiveness but the incredible thing is the entire world is allowing the US to keep going deeper in debt while balancing the budget isn’t even mentioned in Congress and the party that always denounced “tax and spend” Democrats spends without reducing taxes on the rich.
The country faces many problems that are existential (economy, AI, climate change) while the government is standing for those who profit from doing nothing about them. The roulette wheel is spinning, slowing down and there is no good number upon which it can stop.
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meant to write “while reducing taxes on the rich”
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I think it was Dick Cheney back in the Reagan era who said, “Deficits don’t matter.” That greenlighted continued pillaging by the Right/Republicans and acquiescence by the Left/Democrats. It was the “new math” in fiscal affairs, at the time easy to get away with because we were by far the largest economy. That may still be the case, but not by much. Further, our real economy is on much shakier ground than is propagandized. We may be in a “too big to fail” situation now, but when we do collapse of our own accord, maybe those to whom we owe will start to call in the debt. Then when we can’t pay off, it becomes an assets sale or auction.
As I’ve thought to myself, it’s not the moral failure or injustice or inequality of this country that’ll do it in, though none of the aforementioned is inconsequential, it’ll be when Big Money, domestic and international, wants its money.
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