"The first truth to be discovered about human action is that it can be undertaken only by individual ‘actors.’. . . There are no such things as ends of or actions by ‘groups,’ ‘collectives,’ or ‘States,’ which do not take place as actions by various specific individuals."

~ Murray Rothbard, Man, Economy and State

I read the description of the hijackings on 9/11 in the commission report and one thing is clear. Everyone failed on 9/11 to prevent the hijackings and subsequent attacks – the government and the highly-regulated large corporate airlines and their employees who had responsibilities for preventing hijackings or defending against hijacked planes – everyone failed, except the passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93.

Facing dangers most of us will never face, and displaying courage few of us possess, they forced the terrorists to crash the plane in a field in Pennsylvania. The terrorists had been a mere 20 minutes from Washington D. C., where they certainly would have tried to murder thousands of people.

The passenger assault began at 9:57. It lasted about five minutes. They evidently tried to break into the cockpit. Most likely, they used a service cart to ram the cockpit door. The terrorists responded by rocking the plane right and left, and, when that didn’t work, pitching the plane up and down. Both tactics failed to stop the determined and desperate assault.

At 10:00:26, one passenger said, "In the cockpit. If we don’t we’ll die." The terrorists knew they had been defeated. The report continues:

"With the sounds of the passenger counterattack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 580 miles per hour, about twenty minutes flying time from Washington, D. C." (Emphasis added.)

On 9/11, big government failed; big business failed; the corporate state failed. The lone individual, facing impossible odds and certain death, acting jointly and spontaneously with his like-minded brethren and sisthren, rose to the challenge. The paper pushers failed; the cart pushers prevailed.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15-13. How about a national monument to these amazing heroes?

Christian Adams	Patrick Driscoll	Waleska Martinez
Lorraine G. Bay	Edward Felt	Nicole Miller
Todd Beamer	Jane Folger	Louis J. Nacke
Alan Beaven	Colleen Fraser	CeeCee Ross-Lyles
Mark Bingham	Andrew "Sonny" Garcia	Donald A. Peterson
Deora Bodley	Jeremy Glick	Jean Hoadley Peterson
Sandra W. Bradshaw	Lauren Grandcolas	Mark Rothenberg
Marion Britton	Wanda A. Green	Christine Snyder
Thomas Burnett, Jr.	Donald F. Greene	John Talignani
William Cashman	Linda Gronlund	Honor Wainio
Georgine Corrigan	Richard Guadagno	Deborah A. Welsh
Patricia Cushing	Leroy Homer	Kristin Gould White
Jason Dahl	Toshiya Kuge
Joseph DeLuca	Hilda Marcin