Rather than requiring airports to implement effective security measures, Congress voted to make airport security a Federal responsibility. With reputations and budgets now on the line, we'll rarely have have frank and honest answers from the bureaucrats running the agency [with over 30,000 projected employees, it's the largest single Federal law enforcement agency, and the one with the lowest average salaries]. It's likely that problems will be hidden rather than revealed and fixed; we can only hope that no passengers will be buried when the problems surface.

   Congress overwhelmingly passed the 'PATRIOT Act' [Provide Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorists] as a response to the terrorist threat. Most of the law consists of previously rejected proposals, unrelated to terrorism, that were hastily patched together in a rush to Do Something. Despite the fact that neither the final text nor the full list of provisions were available when the vote was taken, only nine Representatives had the courage to vote against it. [Rep. Sam Johnson was not one of them.]

   We live in interesting times. Threats are everywhere and nowhere, and there can never be enough police or soldiers to ensure everyone's safety. We cannot fortify our lives, our schools and malls, our homes and highways so well as to dispel all dangers; we cannot give up so much privacy or so many rights as to reveal all possible threats. We cannot, and we should not.

   As Americans, we have a crystal-bright opportunity in the midst of the rubble of recent tragedy. It is time to reclaim the freedom, liberty, courage, and personal responsibility that has drifted away over the past half-century. Americans stood up for freedom in crises stretching back to colonial times; we must do it now. Self-reliance is first and foremost a state of mind. We all must keep our eyes open, talk to our neighbors, and be alert and unafraid as we go about our day's routine. Americans are free people -- brave men and women who can and will live up to the ideals of our founders. We are awake, we are responsible, and we are ready to meet the threats of our enemies.

   We support our public safety officers and workers: firefighters and police, paramedics, soldiers, and others, they are our friends, our neighbors, and sometimes our heroes. We owe them our support, our assistance, and our vigilance -- and one more thing: we owe them our insistence that we remain free and unfettered, our determination that our defenders will never become our wardens.

   Take the lead. Call on your legislators to enact changes that treat Americans, not as sheep, but as the heroes we are.