Our Lone Ranger Heritage

After the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, our head of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got on television to tell the American People that "the system worked” according to plan.

I happen to agree with her, although not in the way that she meant. Everything “worked”. A terrorist, who managed to get on the plane buying a 3000 dollar one-way ticket in cash, minus a passport or any identification? Got past security with chemicals in his underwear. The system definitely worked for the terrorist. Even his father called the embassy in Nigeria to let us know that his son was a terrorist. I guess someone didn’t get the memo.

The level of incompetence should leave us all speechless. This man was on the “watch list” but not the “no-fly” list. Now we find that the watch list is meaningless, that no one is watching those on that list. What good is it to have these lists of names when it comes to nothing?

The primary purpose of government is to protect the citizens of the country – not give us universal healthcare, not to bailout companies, not to give legislators millions for their state in return for their vote … but to protect each and everyone of us from enemies – foreign and domestic.

Rather than do what is necessary – profile and catch these terrorists before they manage to put a hole in the side of an airliner – they’d rather hope that these “isolated incidents” come to naught. Maybe they’re not sure who they should be looking for? White women in their 70s? Nope. Haitian nuns? Nope. Who could it be? Perhaps Middle Eastern/Muslim men ranging in age from 18-40? Yes.

This terrible situation reminds us that when push comes to shove, we’re on our own. The government cannot and will not save us. Each individual is responsible for their own life. A gentleman from Amsterdam realized what was happening, jumped over his seatmates and stopped the terrorist – saving his own life as well as almost 250 others.

There is a very valuable lesson to be learned here from all of this. We have to start behaving like Americans of not-that-long-ago. This European reminds us of our own proud heritage – the Lone Ranger heritage. Doing what is right. Jumping out of our seats, confronting evil and stopping it head on.

During the 9/11 attacks, we saw the bravery of those who were able to do just that – confront evil and stop it. We see the results in an empty field in Pennsylvania.

Government cannot be depended on to protect us – nor should it. We see how well the system worked for us on Christmas Day. I don’t expect it will get better anytime soon.