The 9-11 event triggered panic in the United States. That was the intent of those who planned that dastardly event.

Not only did we recklessly formulate the overreaching Patriot Act, but we wasted resources of time and intelligence trying to allocate blame, even ridiculous opinions blaming those godless creatures among us who dare to practice alternative sexual lifestyles. In Kansas, we have Senator Brownback, who declared before the next election, after 9-11, that the most urgent issue we faced as a nation was same sex marriage. (And, with that great wisdom, he aspires to be our next Governor.) We have floundered around for eight long years, since 9-11, and we are just as vulnerable to terrorism today as we were then.

In the meantime we never paid any attention to the terrorism of the financial institutions as they raped the public with reckless abandon and rewarded themselves with unconscionable bonuses on top of ludicrous salaries. We closed our eyes to the evidence of fraud and thievery in the military complex as they contracted for civilian services. When the Abu Ghraib story came out on the torture and sexual abuse of prisoners, our President tried quelling the alarm by blaming it on just a bunch of immature youngsters having fun! What? Are 20- to 30-year-old soldiers immature youngsters? Did that “fun” make us more secure?

And now!!! We are being terrorized by politicians, wannabe politicians, and interest groups as they dismantle our health care system. By the time you are reading this, Congress may have passed or killed the bill. Either way, the health care system will have been weakened. Does the polarizing partisan politics ease your fears?

Who should we blame for all the above problems? Barack Obama? George W. Bush? Bill Clinton? Pick your administration? Democrats? Republicans? Or, do we face ourselves in the mirror and say, the gullible public of which I am a member is to blame for the mess we are in?

Political and religious ideology without personal commitment to moral and ethical standards is no match against the radical opportunists who have successfully diverted our attention from the unregulated greed of mankind.