As Richard Cobden noted in the 19th century, standing armies and internal “security” have never been about actually protecting citizens from threats. They’re about the state exerting control over the population that the state is allegedly protecting.

The state can’t “protect” the population any better than it can cure poverty or end drug addiction.

Writes a friend:

[My son] was at the inauguration. He said that he waited in a line for about two hours that hardly moved at all while they tried to run everyone through metal detectors, but when they realized they couldn’t get everybody in by the time of the speech they just opened the gates. Moral: If you are a terrorist, stand at the rear of the line!

The Best of Ryan McMaken