In God we trustIn God we trust, everyone else pays cash, is a novel by the American humorist Jean Shepherd. It was a best-selling novel whose title applies more to today than to the era in which it was written. Prior to this, the United States was not informed of potential terrorist attacks against the country. We were naive and thought that nothing could ever harm the greatest country in the world. Then September 11, 2011 happened. The power to investigate terrorism-related leads without blockages or legal restrictions has indeed led to increased security over the past decade. This has led to a much safer environment for Americans. Before September 11, there had never been an attack on our contiguous coasts. The worst event to ever hit the United States occurred on December 7, 1941, the day of infamy. On a calm Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m., 350 Japanese planes began attacking the Pearl Harbor naval base located in Hawaii. Never before had anyone attacked our mighty nation to this extent, until September 11, 2001. For 60 years we have been fat, lazy, and indifferent to security. Our guard was down, we were protected only by two oceans to the east and west, and by friendly nations to the north and south. Then, on September 11, we had a rude awakening. Since September 11, our country has completely reoriented itself towards security. The country has spent nearly $800 billion to protect itself from potential threats. But are we safer today than before? For security to take a step forward, changes must start at the top. A new cabinet position, Secretary of Homeland Security, was created. Tom Ridge was the first man to hold this position. His only responsibility was the protection of our country. The first problem he encountered was the papers in the middle and he used them to kill innocent people, including kindergartners. Twice at Fort Hood, Texas, soldiers on the military base killed their comrades for no apparent reason. People can't even go to the movies without fearing an incident like the one at the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, could result in an attack. What happened in this country? Are all these people terrorists? Or are our own people going crazy? In God we trust but everyone else pays in cash, are we any safer today than we were on 9/11? We can trust, but we can't trust anything or anyone. Julius Caesar discovered this the hard way when he trusted his friend Brutus. Today we can't trust anyone. No one really knows why these acts of violence occur. We must constantly update our security system and forces. Even if we prevent 99% of attacks, it's the 1% we can't stop that has the impact..