Which explains why I haven't posted in ages. I'm in Germany for a bit now, and it's like having digital oxygen after going without connectivity for so long.
African internet service is hit or miss. Paradoxically, I'm told Somalia has cheap and fast access. The libertarian in me says this is because the absence of regulation allows the market to deliver the best service possible, but I've spent enough time overseas to be hesiant about leaping to conclusions about causation and effect. As an outsider it's too easy for me to underestimate the value of certain factors and overvalue the importance of others.
I had to get online today though and point out that it's now eleven years since 9/11 and still lower Manhattan has no decent memorial for that awful day. It's shameful that in an era of ever expanding governmental power, our system has managed to finance two wars, and entirely new cabinet position, and unprecedented expansion of federal authority, and a stupid color code threat system (since abandoned) and yet the WTC site is still a hodgepodge of contract disputes and funding arguments. As I wrote last year, if ever there were a time for a concerted, nationalized effort, it was to turn that location into a solemn but firm memorial and symbol of our national will.
But what's there? Try reading an article about the status of the WTC and it's like reading a developer's prospectus for a "mixed use/residential/commercial green space/future proofed community." The words on their own make sense but together amount to mumbo jumbo. So there's going to be one big tower and some smaller ones? And there's a memorial planned, which will be free, but then a museum/memorial which will cost money? And there's gonna be a cross or maybe not? And there's gonna be a public square or park or something? And is there a mosque or something around there? Apparently that's a problem? I'm so confused.
The whole thing reeks of the sort of faux capitalism which is plaguing the country. The scourge is corporatism, and unhealthy fusion of government granted monopolies with private greed unchecked by the hand of the marketplace. It's over budget, unfunded, and destined to end poorly. Apparently the park portion of the fiasco is going to cost fifteen times more to run than Gettysburg, and require airport style security.
Great, I can get fondled as I celebrate my liberty.
Government at some level should have gone all in or not at all. There should have been an use of eminent domain, compensation to the landholders (or apparently leaseholders?), and then we should have rebuilt those damned things so high that you could have seen them from the Jefferson Memorial. And it should have been done quick. While we were all pinning on yellow ribbons and worrying about the mail, we should have made that move. In the eleven years since then Dubai's thrown up a new skyline and the Chinese have seen five cities leap ahead of New York in terms of population. We should have spent some dough to rebuild the WTC site and construct a free, public memorial, not prop up Haliburton's earnings and school loans for people who take nine years to graduate college.
If that was unpalatable, then we should have done nothing.
Instead you have this bizarre public/private cooperation (always listen carefully when a politician flags such cooperation as healthy) which has resulted in a Frankenstein of real estate development and memorial.
I don't even think the real estate part is going that well. Actually, for the people renting the real estate, I'm sure it'll work out just fine. I'd guess they've greased the proper palms and paid the correct campaigns to make certain they end up okay. But it's very telling that the majority of renters in the "Freedom Tower" are public entities. Is that supposed to indicate the success of the free market?
Here's one more 9/11 anniversary where in addition to remembering the awful tragedy of that day, one must reflect also on the excesses of government. As if there weren't enough to mourn.
Sensible libertarian views on nearly everything- except foreign affairs.