My dad, Phil, writes a monthly column for his community newspaper in Crossville, Tenn., and today says that the irrational response to the 9/11 attacks led to even bigger, more irrational big government:

For us, that one terrible act Sept. 11, 2001, led to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and 3,500 more American deaths as of this writing, increased federal spending, the needless creation of a new cabinet department, needless delays in air travel and the Patriot Act, which gives government agents new power to limit individual freedom ? as if they didn?t have enough now.

All of which works to the benefit of those who love the bloated warfare/welfare state: national security experts of all kinds and from all areas, D.C. think tank employees (what about Raleigh ones?), defense contractors, K Street lobbyists, government employees and big media organizations and their reporters whose favorite pig wallow is war and disaster.