We are still under attack by radical Islamic terrorists who want to kill all of us if we do not surrender to their sick ideology.

Most of us remember exactly where we were when the attack on this country happened on 9-11-2001. Most of us will also remember the fear and anger we felt when we realized that it was no accident.

But our lifestyles and the society we live in have been impacted by what happened that day. We’ve seen more terrorist attacks here and around the world, more threats of terrorist attacks, and the need to dramatically change our airport, airline and general security systems to help protect ourselves.

Make no mistake about it. We are paying for all these challenges and changes either directly or indirectly, and these costs will continue. The terrorists were expecting to put enormous financial pressure on us and our economy as we made these changes to protect ourselves, but they have not been enormous.

The terrorists may have slowed us down, but they have not stopped our economic growth, even at an anemic 2 percent annual rate.

Since 9/11, the terrorists did not anticipate our game-changing fracking technology, which kept us from experiencing $5 per gallon of gas for our automobiles. And! Our dependence on OPEC has decreased dramatically.

The terrorists also want to instill constant fear in us, so we will be afraid to go about our daily lives. They want us to change our lifestyles of work and leisure time, and ignore this notion of the pursuit of happiness. Didn’t work!

The terrorists will not destroy the spirit of the United States of America

Despite the differences in our country that the lens through which the media wants us to view these things, we are more united outside of Washington, D.C. than we are divided.

The people of this country are resilient and patriotic, and will never abandon the ideals of our Declaration of Independence, or the laws of our nation.

Our attitudes about this nation have not weakened since 9/11, and they never will. Some things may change, and yes we have some challenging issues to solve. But ...

The terrorists will not destroy the spirit of the United States of America.