You know that political correctness has gone too far when pirates hold the world hostage and the world does nothing because of political correctness. In the early 1800s the Barbary pirates held the world hostage and the U.S. paid about 10 percent of gross domestic product in bribes to the pirates so that they would not capture our ships. President Thomas Jefferson decided enough was enough and sent the U.S. Navy and Marines to Tripoli to fix the problem and they did with gunpowder and cutlasses, essentially ending piracy in that era for 100 years.

Today the pirates of Somalia are holding the world hostage by seizing 35 ships worth billions of dollars, putting the crews' lives in danger (two died), and costing hundreds of millions of dollars in increased shipping and insurance costs (adding to that, millions in ransom costs). You would think that with the world's modern technology we could solve this problem in a heartbeat. Nope. The UN will not pass a law allowing nations to go into Somalia to stop the pirates without their permission (there is no real government in Somalia to give it), the British have warned their navy not to take pirates prisoner because they would have to go to be taken to Britain and given British rights in court, and the U.S. cannot take action unless a U.S. ship is threatened, so we stand by and watch.

In the old days we had common sense. Pirates were bad, they killed innocent people, and therefore they were eliminated in the most efficient manner possible and the world celebrated. Now bloodthirsty pirates are guaranteed due process and no nation will take them on because it is too expensive and too controversial and so the entire world is held hostage. It appears to me that our forefathers had a lot more common sense than we do. Is this progress?

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