A Decade and Its Three Crises

by Sammy Benoit: When we look back at the decade 2000-2009, we may well define it by three crises: the crisis that didn't happen, the crisis that wasn't supposed to happen, and the crisis that we don't realize is happening. We haven't learned the lessons of the first two, and our ignorance of the third may doom us to be slaves to our government, rather than the other way around.

Leading into the changeover from 1999-2000, we faced Y2K, the crisis that didn't happen. Many people thought computers' dates would go from 1999 back to 1900, causing our computer-dominated world to fail: bank accounts disappearing, air-traffic systems (and airplanes) crashing, and everything leading to economic collapse and a return to the Stone Age. Some scientists told us the world would end, but it didn't. And the solution didn't necessitate everyone throwing out their computers and buying new ones. We should remember this non-crisis when we think about global warming.

On September 11, 2001, America faced the crisis that wasn't supposed to happen. Islamists attacked the United States' biggest city/financial center and the headquarters of our nation's military. This is America; we have the most powerful military in the world and the best intelligence. How could it happen?

A major cause of the September 2001 attacks was our own negligence, our political correctness, and our refusal to learn lessons from previous attacks, such as the bombing of our barracks in Lebanon, the attack on the USS Cole, and the first Trade Center bombing. Immediately after 9/11, it seemed as if we learned from the attack. Our government's first priority was to fight the Islamist terror threat, and the people were willing to do whatever it took to fight Islamic terrorism at home and abroad.

The lessons of 9/11 have long since been forgotten. Our politically correct government is refusing to call our enemy by name (Islamists). The vast majority of Muslims in the U.S. are law-abiding people, but that doesn't change the fact that we are being attacked by Muslim terrorists. An army must know its enemy; otherwise, it cannot recognize and defeat them. . . .

The third crisis is the one that very few realize is happening. This may well be the crisis that defines the next decade: a government takeover of our lives. Our largest manufacturing industry -- automobiles -- was taken over by the government, who took equity from investors who had advanced cash to the firms and then gave to the unions. The banking system was taken over after a crisis caused by government forcing banks to make bad loans to people who could not afford them. A pay czar is setting salary levels for businesses we have taken over and making salary "recommendations" for others.

The role of government in the economy has spiked. Government spending now represents 40% of the U.S. gross national product. The Congress, directed by the president, is working to take over the health care system, despite the objections of the American people. The threat of this bill is more than simply controlling another 16% of the economy. The ObamaCare bill creates government control over our lifestyles, from what we eat to what we put in vending machines to when and how we die.

Our government is trying to control how we consume energy. They have prepared legislation which will control everything from transportation to creating a smart grid that will move the thermostat in our houses without our permission. None of this -- none -- is supported by the Constitution that has kept us free for some 222 years. . . . [Full Story] Sammy Benoit blogs at YID With LID

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