Has America fallen asleep at the 9/11 wheel?

In 2001, we pledged to our country and the world that we would "never forget" 9/11. But don't we risk that remembrance 20 years later when our culture fears offending anyone and appeases everyone, including extremists?

President Trump has done a good job as commander in chief in rebuilding the U.S. military and leading the fight against ISIS and Al Qaeda. His pro-Israel leadership against terrorist-sponsoring Islamic States like Iran or strongholds in Syria has given us a stronger stance in the world. We are safer today in the U.S. than we have been in years.

However, when a Democrat Congress enables Islamic extremism by fearing to use terms like jihadism and even funding those who fund jihadists, isn't Washington sidestepping our commitment of remembrance in addition to their duty to protect our land and liberties? Indeed, some liberal U.S. representatives even mock those who gave their lives on 9/11 as if they did something to deserve it.

I believe that in America we must support everyone's choice of religion – or no religion at all. That's what the First Amendment is all about. However, in defending our country, we must remain strong and vigilant against Islamic extremism, lest we return to a pre-911 era heads-end-in-the-sand mentality when we dropped our guards and became sitting ducks.

The U.S. might have severed a massive blow against ISIS, but it's not dead. In fact, it's regaining strength in Iraq and Syria.

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Extremism against America is alive and well, but it's simply not reported very often anymore by mainstream media.

Do many Americans even know that, in 2018, an individual originally from India drove a van full of propane tanks into the front gate of a California Air Force base, burning himself to death in the process?

Do many Americans even know that a Muslim male was stopped in Los Angeles with two homemade bombs in his car while heading to a crowded mall with the intent of carrying out an attack?

Do many Americans even know about the Bangladeshi man who meticulously plotted to carry out a jihadist attack in Times Square, after being tracked for months and years by American intelligence? (After pleading guiltyto terrorism charges in the case and was sentenced to life in prison, he told the court he was a "proud" terrorist.)

If these attacks on American soil occurred within five years after 9/11, they would have made national news and immediately raised the flags and actions of everyone in Congress, Republicans and Democrats.

But today, we just want everyone to get along. It's as if we want to export our First Amendment, and say to the world as Rodney King once did, "Can't we all just get along?" Read the extremist tealeaves. The answer is emphatically: No.

Congress is not only asleep at the wheel, but they have returned to directly and indirectly funding America's enemies. Of course you know about the $1.7 billion in cash that former president Obama routed to terrorists through Iran. But did you know we are sending new weapons to new ISIS fighters?

As Sen. Rand Paul eloquently stated in his June article, "Stop Arming Radical Jihadism," Washington continues to give funds and weapons to our "Islamic allies" like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who in turn are handing them over to ISIS fighters!

While we hunker down on Iran, we give a free pass to Saudi Arabia, about whom Rand explained: "Since the 1980s, the Saudis are estimated to have spent $100 billion exporting a radical jihadism that preaches hatred of Jews, Christians, and Hindus. The Saudis fund tens of thousands of madrassas teaching hatred and violence against the West. At one of these madrassas, it is said that 80 percent of the students join the Taliban to fight the Americans. What sane person would give such people [military weapons, including] nuclear technology?" (But that is exactly what the U.S. has done and is doing.)

Tragically, the U.S. has become numb to Islamic extremism and terrorism.

It's been said that one of the reasons the world – indeed, the U.S. – repeatedly finds itself in these perilous terrorist pickles and cycles is that we end up valuing safety more than liberty.

Christ Stewart, who, together with Ted Stewart authored one of my favorite books, "7 Tipping Points that Saved the World," which describes how radical Islam came within a hair's breath of taking over the world during its early expansion.

The Stewarts were interviewed several years ago by the Blaze and asked this very point about the relation and reversal of valuing safety over liberty.

The Blaze asked Stewart, "What if we don't really appreciate freedom as much as we think we do? Even today, average people are more concerned with safety and stability than they are with liberty."

Stewart answered, "It's a good point. I believe it is human nature to look around at the world today – or the world our parents lived in yesterday, or the world we assume our children will live in tomorrow – and say: well, this is the normal state of the world. Things don't change. One of the main points of [our] book is to point out how extraordinarily unique self-governance, liberty – whatever definition you want to give modern freedom – is in this world. You can talk to historians who specialize in this area. They believe that maybe 4 or 4½ percent of us have been able to control our own destinies and lives."

He added, "So it is easy to just assume that this is the normal state of the world. But we have example after example of nations that have enjoyed freedom and then saw it recede, or, for reasons you mention, collapse. There are the former Soviet bloc nations: once the Berlin Wall fell most of them marched quickly towards freedom. But since then, many of them fallen back and are increasingly turning away. It's been documented that there are only 22 nations in existence right now that have been democracies for over 50 years. I think that fact should shock people. For more than two generations there have been only 22 nations that consistently embraced freedom. I think it illustrates pretty clearly that what we have is fragile and that it isn't necessarily going to last."

The federal government and the citizens of our country need to take to heart the wisdom of George Santayana: "Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Our founders – like those who have fought our wars – valued liberty more than safety. And so should we. They risked everything for freedom and their republic, trusting in God as they did. As our founders wrote, "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

Sept. 11 can still serve as America's pivotal and big wake-up call – one that even preserves our liberty and republic – as long as Congress doesn't slumber in safety while remembering it. But on the eve of another 9/11, it's paramount for all of us to recall (indeed, remember) the costs of indecision and forgetfulness in critical times like these as well as the power of courageous leadership to deliver us from the hands of radical Islam.

God bless and help all the victims and families of 9/11, from those on Flight 93 to those who were in the Pentagon and Twin Towers, as well as others who have fought and presently fight the war on terror.

Despite what Washington thinks or does on this 18th anniversary, we the people will never forget those who perished and the lessons learned on Sept. 11, 2001. We will commemorate their sacrifices and why they were made, vowing never to see their repeat.

May their memory live on in our hearts and minds so that even our posterity will say with patriotic pride, "We will never forget."