The CATO institute has put together a great article on terrorism and how our government has terribly bungled its reaction to terrorist attacks. Remember folks, don’t live in fear or they have won already…

Determining how to respond to the terrorist challenge has become a major public policy issue in the United States over the last three years. It has been discussed endlessly, many lives have been changed, a couple of wars have been waged, and huge sums of money have been spent — often after little contemplation — to deal with the problem.

Throughout all this, there is a perspective on terrorism that has been very substantially ignored. It can be summarized, somewhat crudely, as follows:

-Assessed in broad but reasonable context, terrorism generally does not do much damage.

-The costs of terrorism very often are the result of hasty, ill-considered, and overwrought reactions.

A sensible policy approach to the problem might be to stress that any damage terrorists are able to accomplish likely can be absorbed, however grimly. While judicious protective and policing measures are sensible, extensive fear and anxiety over what may at base prove to be a rather limited problem are misplaced, unjustified, and counterproductive.

read the story (application/pdf Object)…

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