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I'm not that old, but I am old enough to remember when there were no security checkpoints in airports. Making your flight was as quick as walking from the front door to your gate.

Then 9/11 happened.

Overnight, making your flight involved standing in line for hours before getting to the gate. We thought this would all be temporary, and some day air travel would be back to normal.

Military action was taken against the terrorists. Then there was a new president. Then there was less military action. Then 9/11 faded to memory, people got used to the new normal, and what was intended as a band-aid became the permanent skin replacement for the thorny skin beneath.

The new norm

How many aspects of our world are like this? There used to be a time when going to a theme park or stadium event was as simple as getting a ticket and walking in. There used to be a time when children in the US could walk to the park or to school or anywhere without fear of kidnapping or pedophiles. There used to be a time when average US families could live in a house, have a car, and have food, all on a single income. There used to be a time when you could send your child to a public school and not have to worry about them coming home with a drug addiction.

It doesn't have to be this way.

It wasn't before, so why is it now?

One of humanity's greatest strengths is our ability to adapt. We compartmentalize, make things efficient, all part of the routine. Before long, this thing that was once a huge inconvenience is hardly there at all.

But a problem with this is that now we are blind to the horrible inefficiencies and hidden stresses introduced by this. One or two permanent band-aids here and there are no big deal, but when every joint is covered in multiple layers of band-aids, it starts getting pretty difficult to do anything. Then one day you look down at yourself and realize it doesn't have to be like this.

It is not too much to expect that we can live without fear.

Waking up

Some people see the crackdowns of the current administration happening and they say, Why is this necessary when the numbers were already improving?. These people have lost the original goal and are now aiming for the leaves instead of the root.

We do not want fewer murders. We want No murders.

We do not want less election fraud. We want No election fraud.

We do not want fewer terrorist attacks. We want No terrorist attacks.

We do not want less drugs in our schools. We want No drugs in our schools.

When we aim for reduction instead of elimination, we get complacent. Some people see the current drastic actions and ask Why now?. I guess the quick answer is that somebody pointed out we're a mummy of bandage solutions to old problems, and they think they know how to fix the original wound.

Now we are awake.

A new doctor

It does not matter how old the war is, if the root is still there. The longer we wait, the harder it becomes to fix things, the more the bandage solutions have buried the true root of the problem. For example, 9/11 created an industry of airport security that did not exist before. Do you think society is better or worse than it was before we had to add an extra 2 hours to any flight plan, in addition to the millions of dollars of scanning equipment added to every airport and driving up the cost of every flight? How much more stress does society have to absorb because of this?

Now how much incentive is there to fix the problem of people hijacking planes and flying them into buildings and killing thousands of people? I would like to say a lot of incentive. But if you do that, then you kill an industry, people lose jobs. Now we have incentivized keeping the band-aid, instead of removing the shrapnel.

Is this really the kind of debate we want to have? Weighing the cost of life against the cost of livelihoods? By adapting we have created a conflict of interest. A conflict of interest is never good, and is often abused.

Ripping off the band-aid hurts, but the sooner and faster you do it, the better the outcome.

Where is the root?

Since I was using 9/11 as an example, if the root of the problem is not airport security, where is it? Well, what tree are the terrorists dropping from? That is where the root is.

I don't like war. War is a terrible, horrible thing. We should avoid it at all costs. But like it or not, if somebody else wants you dead and is preparing to act on that desire, you are already at war. We can deny it all we want, but that does not change the fact that our enemy is already making plans and preparations to destroy us. They are building regimes, recruiting soldiers, spreading propaganda, laying infrastructure.

At this point, if you are not fighting them, it is not because you are not at war. It is because you are in denial.

They have already declared war on you, and they are going to hit you until you are dead, or you hit back.

Justice and jurisdiction

We are very war-shy. That's good. Like I said, war is terrible. But it does mean we often do not administer war when we should, and roots of problems are allowed to grow big and fat. I think part of it is that we like to respect boundaries and let countries deal with their own problems.

But we need to understand that when terrorists and cartels have come onto our soil, and killed our people, then it is our problem. If a country has enabled a terrorist group or a cartel to grow under its canopy, then it drops onto our side of the fence, that country needs to do something about it immediately. If they don't do something about it, we need to hold them accountable until they do. If the country is in on it, then we are justified in stepping in to settle it ourselves.

Forever wars

A forever war is just what happens when the cut was too far above the root, and little new spouts grow from the strength that remains within the root. America does not want to get involved in another forever war. Understandably so. And we should never have to. If we understand the justice and jurisdiction of the situation, we would understand that it is not our responsibility.

If we are having trouble with a terrorist organization or cartel, then that is the home-country's responsibility to handle it as violently or peacefully as they see fit. They did not pull the weed early, they allowed the weed to grow into a tree, and now it's causing us problems. But we need to hold that country accountable and ensure they do handle it. We are under no obligation to give that country assistance, and if we do they'd happily let us do the hard work. Don't let them be lazy, make it their war. If the roots are particularly deep and wide spread, make sure it is their sweat and blood that goes into removing it. We've got enough weeds to remove in our own yard without worrying about theirs.

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