From Thomas S.: “You write: ‘It is believed that we would rather be taxed to have bureaucrats defend us.’ This belief of mine collapsed with the WTC on Sept. 11. For all the incompetence of the Federal bureaucracy, I always imagined that they could at least defend us. When they couldn’t keep their own headquarters from being hit 45 Minutes after the first WTC tower was hit, they were exposed, and that point’s repetition helps bring down the whole edifice.
“A less radical point about defense: New York once provided for its own defense of the harbor, building Castle Clinton not 1/2 mile from the WTC, in 1811. In the War of 1812, the last time that a foreign enemy caused death and destruction in the states, DC and Baltimore suffered, but the British left NYC alone, due to locally built and managed truly defensive installations. How I wish we’d been at the controls of a missile battery guarding the harbor that day! If someone won’t go for private defense, radically decentralized and locally controlled is the next step to lead him.
“Remember, the Soviet union collapsed 4 years after Matthias Rust flew a plane to the heart of their commercial and military centers. The Federal government has two years left.”
7:27 am on October 24, 2003
