Today is the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and the fifth anniversary of both the Molinari Institute and this blog. Re 9/11, I have little to say that I haven’t said previously. Re the Molinari Institute, to those still patiently waiting for the appearance of the Industrial Radical, apologies for the delay (owing to illness and various kinds of hecticity) – it is coming! Re this blog, it’s been an amazing success – thank you! I now get the kind of stats in a month I used to get in a year.
Something I’ve wanted to ask, and I hoped that you would’ve made a blog entry about one of these days, is: “How would you have handled this?” On my journey from war statist to antiwar AnCap my personal answers to this question have changed. If, by some mysterious mystical confluence of circumstances Dr. Roderick Long had been made POTUS on September 12th 2001 (for purposes of this analogy you can’t and wouldn’t refuse the office) how would things go? Assuming that you remain the person that you are right now (assuming that that is the person that you were on 9/11/01) what actions would you take? Would you make speeches? What about? Would you take military action?
I’ve been curious about your answer in particular, because through your work I’ve become solidly antiwar, anti-state, and pro-virtue.
Your question is still socializing or separating the costs of action from the perpetrators. Like setting someone’s house on fire and saying, “Oh, now you deal with it” when the house may never have been set ablaze were it not for the other person. Still, I guess you have to start somewhere.
I have though much of this question (without many answers as well) in previous years as well. When it first happened I was all for unleashing the venom of our military machine upon Afghanistan. I was a much different person then. It wasn’t until just after the run-up of the Iraq war that I even thought of politics in any serious way. Certainly, in the aftermath of the attacks, speeches and leader visibility would be vital; one has to be in front to lead, after all. A truthful examination of the causes and some of the options would change the course from our current reality.
The options for action themselves are a lot tougher. Hunt the perpetrators down as criminals – diplomatically, militarily, what-have-you – once evidence can be found to positively identify the suspects. Everything (in hindsight) seemed to have an ulterior motive pointing to where we are today, so not intentionally posturing for aggressive and endless war would certainly change outcomes significantly.
I know I wasn’t who you wanted to hear from, but it is a good exercise in thought. I am also curious as to what specifics the multitude of smart folks in this here movement can think of for options.