The ten year anniversary of 9/11 is this Sunday; silver planes turning in the clear blue sky, towers of glass and flame, the collapse of the buildings and the tsunami of dust and debris, and those many who ran toward the fire and gave their lives proudly. I remember seeking out the two Muslim boys my wife and I had brought to our country to attend college, who had become a part of our family, and how we struggled to understand the violent, hate filled attack and what it would mean for the future. There was much fear expressed at the time that ordinary Americans would strike out at Muslims in our communities but the fear was almost entirely unjustified.
We will see an intentionally limited replay of the images of horror of 9/11 on television on Sunday. The national media has decided that we are not able to handle it because, like the incorrect predictions of retribution following 9/11, the media assumes that we would act inappropriately. This disrespect for ordinary citizens is sadly common among media and political elites who look down upon us as an unprincipled and unruly mob. Not only are they wrong as a matter of fact, they reveal clearly their unAmerican philosophy that citizen sovereignty is quaint notion to which they pay insincere homage while attempting to create a statist society ruled by elites.
9/11 should remind us that there are always those who feel entitled to rule over ordinary people: theocrats, communists, socialists, statists, fascists, etc. If we are to continue to be a nation whose government is ”Of the people, by the people, and for the people” we must reject all those who claim superiority of right or ability to govern. Wherever one might find oneself on the political spectrum, no political philosophy, no program, no charismatic leader is more important than the preservation of citizen sovereignty.
America’s greatest diversity is not skin color, nor religion, nor ethnicity. It is diversity of thought confined only by constitutional boundaries. Only an unyielding belief in individual liberty can honor this diversity and insure the rejection of elitism, statism and the disrespect for the sovereignty of ordinary citizens from which they arise.
On Sunday let us celebrate our liberty as individuals, let us remember that the price of maintaining our liberty is constant vigilance against treats both external and internal. Let us remember that we, each of us, is sovereign and that those in government and public employment of every kind are our servants, not our masters. Let us remember most especially, that our liberty is individual not collective, for, without this Creator given distinction, the minority will be subject to whim of the majority and citizen sovereignty will be imperiled if not lost.
