Remembering 9/11

Twenty-four years ago, on this day, thousands of our countrymen were murdered by foreign terrorists. As the years have passed us by, the national commitment made to “never forget” has become ever more difficult to keep. Fewer and fewer of our fellow Americans remain alive who are able to remember that evil day while more and more of us are reaching adulthood who were either not yet born or too young to have our own memories of the attack.

As this change progresses, the legacy of 9/11 and the effects of that day will evolve. After Joe Biden’s catastrophic pullout from Afghanistan, the part of the 9/11 legacy involving wars in the Middle East seems to be at a close, and we are left to consider what lessons we can carry into the future as a nation.

Abroad, we have learned that we want neither isolationism nor imperial imposition of our particular system of government in God-forsaken deserts. After 9/11, there was a just and necessary response to punish the monsters that killed our fellow Americans, and then there were disastrous foreign wars that drained our country of blood and treasure with little benefit to us. Some people have wholly approved of every foreign intervention in the Middle East. Some people have wanted to recall every last American soldier back onto our soil and never launch so much as a single missile or drone ever again.

Today, a new Republican administration is demonstrating how to strike a balance between these two poles. Under the leadership of President Donald Trump and Minnesota’s own Pete Hegseth as Secretary of War, we have witnessed military actions that have simultaneously devastated our enemies and protected the homeland without entangling us further in foreign conflicts. From busting Iranian bunkers to blowing up drug-running terrorists to clearing up domestic violence and chaos in our biggest, bluest cities, America’s young men and women have never before witnessed an administration which so beautifully demonstrated what peace through strength can really look like. We should all be grateful for the privilege that it is to be defended by such competent leaders.

Alongside the overt exercise of military power we have seen from the current administration, we have also seen extraordinary diplomatic successes, contributing to ceasefires and the ending or total prevention of wars around the world. If we are to never forget the crime of 9/11 for the purpose of establishing peace at home and encouraging peace abroad, then it would seem that we haven’t forgotten yet. Indeed, we may be remembering better than ever.

At home, the lessons of remembering 9/11 have been applied by taking seriously the threats our homeland faces. The current administration has finally recognized that the foreign drug cartels that kill tens of thousands of Americans with their poison and violence are every bit as much terrorists as are the radical Islamic groups that chant, “Death to America!” It’s because of this recognition that we have seen actions like the strike on the Tren de Aragua vessel that killed eleven of the narco-terrorists who were bound for the United States. Perhaps even more crucially, the administration is taking seriously the problem of who we let into the country. After the Biden regime opened our nation’s borders so wide that even terrorists were waltzing their way inside by the score, the contrast with the current Republican administration is sharp. No longer are we allowing ourselves to be gaslit and guilt tripped into allowing anybody and everybody across the border and refraining from deporting those illegally here. Instead, the administration is taking seriously its responsibility to vet the people who enter our country, as well as the duty to expel any unauthorized people present. All of that is adding up to a much safer country where it is much less likely that we will experience another attack like that which occurred on 9/11.

“Never forget” means more than merely remembering a historic tragedy. “Never forget” means that we need to learn our lessons as a nation and work to ensure that foreign actors are never able to attack us in the same manner ever again. After years of liberal regimes playing fast and loose with our national security, we can all be grateful for an administration that is working hard and applying common sense to keep our homeland safe.