20 Years of Epigrams on the War on Terror

U.S. Army photo on left. The 9/11/01 photo on the right is from Wally Gobetz, https://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/159454993

Here is a round-up of some of my epigrams on the War on Terror. I tweaked a few lines for this repost and I may have missed or forgotten other lines that I should have included.  I welcome any suggestions to add (or delete) for this list.

Investors Business Daily, October 2, 2001: Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Americans’ trust in government is soaring after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The blind glorification of government, now so popular, puts almost all liberties at grave risk.

Reason, December 2001: The best hope for the survival of liberty is for Americans to recall the history lessons that public schools never teach.

USA Today, January 10, 2002: The war on terrorism quickly became a license for tyranny.

The word “terrorism” must not become an incantation that miraculously razes all existing limits on government power.

USA Today, August 14, 2003: The more power a politician seeks, the more dangerous his lies become.

Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil  (St. Martin’s Press), September 2003

The Patriot Act and other anti-terrorism measures will be Pandora’s Boxes from which scandal after scandal arise in coming years

The word “terrorism” must not become an incantation that miraculously razes all limits on government power.

The United States is suffering more from political exploitation of terrorism than from terrorists.

Nothing happened on 9/11 to make the federal government more trustworthy.

The Patriot Act treats every citizen like a suspected terrorist and every federal agent like a proven angel.

The worse government fails, the less privacy citizens supposedly deserve.

Killing foreigners is no substitute for protecting Americans.

Perpetual war inevitably begets perpetual repression. It is impossible to destroy all alleged enemies of freedom everywhere without also destroying freedom in the United States.

A lie that is accepted by a sufficient number of ignorant voters becomes a political truth.

Citizens should distrust politicians who distrust freedom.

In the long run, people have more to fear from governments than from terrorists. Terrorists come and go, but power-hungry politicians will always be with us.

The Bush Betrayal  (St. Martin’s Press), August 2004: The myths of 9/11 continue to threaten American safety.\

Attention Deficit Democracy (St. Martin’s Press), January 2006: When people blindly assume that political leaders are trustworthy, the biggest liars win.

Bogus fears can produce real servitude.

USA Today, July 6, 2015:  “Don’t confuse me with the facts” is the motto of the War on Terror.

Mises Institute, August 11, 2020: The more oppressive the government acted after 9/11, the more slavish the press became.

American Institute for Economic Research, September 9, 2020: After 9/11, any purported terrorist threat anywhere purportedly justified the Bush administration’s seizure of boundless power.

Many politicians still believe that there is no problem that cannot be solved by a bigger federal iron fist.

American Conservative, March 8 2021: “Terrorism” has spurred deluges of political and prosecutorial malarkey for 20 years. Any new crackdown on terrorism will turn into a numbers game in which justice and fair play don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.

American Conservative, July 22, 2021: After January 6, the de facto definition of terrorism seems to be “anything that frightens politicians.”

“Trespassing plus thought crimes equals terrorism” is the standard the Biden Justice Department is using to prosecute January 6 Capitol clash protestors.

Mises Institute, September 6, 2021: After 9/11, anyone who denied “they hate us for our freedoms” automatically became an enemy of freedom.