My Belief
I live in the greatest country in the world. It is a young country, but like some child genius, it has accomplished something that should stand for all time as a monument to the human spirit. Our accomplishment? Our freedom from the tyranny of divinely appointed kings.
But I fear that this magnificent place, this City on a Hill, will also be held up as an example of pride and falls. We fought for our liberty in 1776. We fought for the World’s liberty in 1916 and 1941. We held the ground after 1945 against the pernicious threat of totalitarianism up to the fall of that same philosophy’s best and strongest representatives.
But now I fear we have taken onto ourselves the tactics of those self-same enemies of our state. We have fought that disease-ridden beast so long that we have taken in the poison ourselves. It is not the first time that poison has been felt-the junior Senator from Wisconsin, Senator Joe McCarthy was the first outbreak. Like any disease, the first iteration was violent, virulent and extreme-and now, like the secondary infection, it is much more subtle, much harder to diagnose and treat.
We now have a government that believes spying on its own citizens is acceptable. We have a government leader who carefully screens the audience to avoid anyone who opposes his viewpoint. Who treats dissent as treason. Who uses the military as a theatrical prop to sanctify his stance. Like McCarthy, like Nixon, George W. Bush displays a shocking lack of human decency in the wielding of power. We have a governing body that believes it is morally correct and laudable to reward the rich well-to-do at the expense of the impoverished and unprivileged. We have elections that are held in questionable conditions, and scrutiny is discouraged. Our senators hold hearings as of McCarthy’s day to badger and bully and make themselves appear strong- a display of power to cow the population. We have politicians who redefine their districts in order to have unchallenged reelection to the place of power. We have public funds used for private gain. And worst of all, we have a war whose origins are deliberately confused, and our best citizens-those willing to put their body between harm and our Republic- are dying for lies and illusions. Those citizens are my spiritual brothers and sisters.
We have the very ghost of the Politburo.
The spirit of the people so many of us, myself included, signed on to fight against. Too many of us were killed or injured in that fight without even a shot fired. We won that fight. Right prevailed. But a harder fight has arisen in its place: We must fight our own selves. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely"; I think of that quote when I look over the headlines, and I find myself clenching my fists. The Soviets had gulags, we have Guantanamo. People being held without fair trial, something we’ve always found repugnant before- not because innocence is overly common, but because we were better than everybody that came before. The Soviets were legendary torturers; we could proudly boast that we were better than that-even our worst criminals would be given the benefit of dignity and fair treatment. We can make that boast no longer. Hell, in 1991 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to anybody American-even journalists and a few very surprised mechanics. That will never ever happen again; for we have lost that shield of righteousness we had before-like virginity, you only have it once. Eisenhower- no fainting violet and nowhere near a Democrat-would never have even dreamed of suppressing dissent by talking of treason equaling dissent. He didn’t even do that to troops he sent into combat for Christ’s sake. And he would have court-martialed all the way to the top had torture happened while he was CINC. I don’t see how this stops with a Spec-4 and a sergeant or two. Or one General.
And what is the reason for fighting this war of acquisition and revenge? Tied to an attack that has nothing to do with the country we’re fighting in. Afghanistan, I could see maybe-but when did you last hear how that was going? Instead, we have wasted billions of dollars, and so very much worse, the lives of our most precious resource-the men and women who believe so much in this country they put their bodies between harm and us- in a country that had no part in the attack, no WMDs, and is assuredly not embracing democracy or greeting our troops as liberators on a cakewalk. I am sad and sickened to see my brothers and sisters being thrown into such an ambiguous, useless fight.
Yes. I believe terrorism one of the worst evils to ever come into the world-years of Northern Ireland taught me that this is world-cancer stuff. But the evil can’t be beat this way, only forced deeper into the tissue of society. Do I believe that we should either reward the terrorist-leaders? No, I’ll be first to hold the rope-but I will point out that terrorism was not found in Iraq until we went in there-no matter what the administration says. No proof, no proof at all. WMDs were lies, and though a madman and a war criminal, Saddam never attacked the United States-except when the USS Cole was attacked, and my friends were killed. The first Navy ship I ever ate aboard, talked to fellow navy men aboard, was hit by a French-manufactured Iraqi missile, killing 30-plus. But we didn’t declare war then, did we? Not until Kuwait. And then we did not finish the job. I remember-and George w. Bush’s father remembers too. And yet, I cannot say that despite the blood of my friends, this war is justified. We were attacked by Osama Bin Ladin-still at large-and we were not attacked by Saddam Hussein. If I can make that distinction, a low-level aircrewman, then why can’t my government?
This is the greatest country in the World. But it is very ill. I have to hope that people will wake up, and clean house-not be lulled by the bread and circuses that killed Rome, or the quasi-religious rot that killed the British Empire. The cleaning will not be easy-merit can be found in the expeditious evil of the rack and the stake-but like black ink to white paper, there is no removing even the faintest touch. I fear for us, and I cannot help but think that we are due- precocious child genius that this nation is- for a terrible reckoning for our follies.
#30
But I fear that this magnificent place, this City on a Hill, will also be held up as an example of pride and falls. We fought for our liberty in 1776. We fought for the World’s liberty in 1916 and 1941. We held the ground after 1945 against the pernicious threat of totalitarianism up to the fall of that same philosophy’s best and strongest representatives.
But now I fear we have taken onto ourselves the tactics of those self-same enemies of our state. We have fought that disease-ridden beast so long that we have taken in the poison ourselves. It is not the first time that poison has been felt-the junior Senator from Wisconsin, Senator Joe McCarthy was the first outbreak. Like any disease, the first iteration was violent, virulent and extreme-and now, like the secondary infection, it is much more subtle, much harder to diagnose and treat.
We now have a government that believes spying on its own citizens is acceptable. We have a government leader who carefully screens the audience to avoid anyone who opposes his viewpoint. Who treats dissent as treason. Who uses the military as a theatrical prop to sanctify his stance. Like McCarthy, like Nixon, George W. Bush displays a shocking lack of human decency in the wielding of power. We have a governing body that believes it is morally correct and laudable to reward the rich well-to-do at the expense of the impoverished and unprivileged. We have elections that are held in questionable conditions, and scrutiny is discouraged. Our senators hold hearings as of McCarthy’s day to badger and bully and make themselves appear strong- a display of power to cow the population. We have politicians who redefine their districts in order to have unchallenged reelection to the place of power. We have public funds used for private gain. And worst of all, we have a war whose origins are deliberately confused, and our best citizens-those willing to put their body between harm and our Republic- are dying for lies and illusions. Those citizens are my spiritual brothers and sisters.
We have the very ghost of the Politburo.
The spirit of the people so many of us, myself included, signed on to fight against. Too many of us were killed or injured in that fight without even a shot fired. We won that fight. Right prevailed. But a harder fight has arisen in its place: We must fight our own selves. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely"; I think of that quote when I look over the headlines, and I find myself clenching my fists. The Soviets had gulags, we have Guantanamo. People being held without fair trial, something we’ve always found repugnant before- not because innocence is overly common, but because we were better than everybody that came before. The Soviets were legendary torturers; we could proudly boast that we were better than that-even our worst criminals would be given the benefit of dignity and fair treatment. We can make that boast no longer. Hell, in 1991 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to anybody American-even journalists and a few very surprised mechanics. That will never ever happen again; for we have lost that shield of righteousness we had before-like virginity, you only have it once. Eisenhower- no fainting violet and nowhere near a Democrat-would never have even dreamed of suppressing dissent by talking of treason equaling dissent. He didn’t even do that to troops he sent into combat for Christ’s sake. And he would have court-martialed all the way to the top had torture happened while he was CINC. I don’t see how this stops with a Spec-4 and a sergeant or two. Or one General.
And what is the reason for fighting this war of acquisition and revenge? Tied to an attack that has nothing to do with the country we’re fighting in. Afghanistan, I could see maybe-but when did you last hear how that was going? Instead, we have wasted billions of dollars, and so very much worse, the lives of our most precious resource-the men and women who believe so much in this country they put their bodies between harm and us- in a country that had no part in the attack, no WMDs, and is assuredly not embracing democracy or greeting our troops as liberators on a cakewalk. I am sad and sickened to see my brothers and sisters being thrown into such an ambiguous, useless fight.
Yes. I believe terrorism one of the worst evils to ever come into the world-years of Northern Ireland taught me that this is world-cancer stuff. But the evil can’t be beat this way, only forced deeper into the tissue of society. Do I believe that we should either reward the terrorist-leaders? No, I’ll be first to hold the rope-but I will point out that terrorism was not found in Iraq until we went in there-no matter what the administration says. No proof, no proof at all. WMDs were lies, and though a madman and a war criminal, Saddam never attacked the United States-except when the USS Cole was attacked, and my friends were killed. The first Navy ship I ever ate aboard, talked to fellow navy men aboard, was hit by a French-manufactured Iraqi missile, killing 30-plus. But we didn’t declare war then, did we? Not until Kuwait. And then we did not finish the job. I remember-and George w. Bush’s father remembers too. And yet, I cannot say that despite the blood of my friends, this war is justified. We were attacked by Osama Bin Ladin-still at large-and we were not attacked by Saddam Hussein. If I can make that distinction, a low-level aircrewman, then why can’t my government?
This is the greatest country in the World. But it is very ill. I have to hope that people will wake up, and clean house-not be lulled by the bread and circuses that killed Rome, or the quasi-religious rot that killed the British Empire. The cleaning will not be easy-merit can be found in the expeditious evil of the rack and the stake-but like black ink to white paper, there is no removing even the faintest touch. I fear for us, and I cannot help but think that we are due- precocious child genius that this nation is- for a terrible reckoning for our follies.
#30
posted by Buccaneer | 16:50
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