Treason, Tyranny, Terror and Torture
Paraphrasing the King James Bible “Terror ye shall have with ye always” appears more nonchalant than thoughtful. Still, it quite possibly has more validity than poverty, as in “The poor ye shall have with ye always”(Mark 14:7). As Americans we are quite fond of wars and pressing anyone’s God to its service, especially when we can elevate them metaphorically to levels of altruism as in the War on poverty, drugs or crime. Still, these are rather mundane wars and do not excite any true continuing sense of fear or glory. Yet, we accommodate our selves easily to their reality and relegate these struggles to the dusty corners of the under funded. The search for a cause to sustain war is fragile particularly if there is a chance one could actually be victorious or lead oneself to believe one could be victorious.
The American thirst for battle must always be draped in special cloth, a fabric of sacred rights sown with the words of freedom, liberty, equality or democracy (and of course self-defense). An American War cannot be fought against these words only for them. The essential nomenclature must be placed squarely in the hearts and minds of the people lest they loose sight of the goal and decide to cut and run. Establishment of these ideals by force of war appeals to Americas professed gallant sense of self. Those blessed with these ideals have become their sole arbiters in the world as if a special inheritance or providence passes them on from generation to generation to the chosen.
Noble aspirations such as these are self-defeating because there is always the possibility that they are attainable. Americas numerous martial endeavors illustrate this, some overt others covert. Just a few such adventures in the past odd hundred years or more: The Spanish American War and the liberation or subjugation of the Philippines and Cuba, the Great War making the world safe for democracy, WWII, The Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, incursions or interventions in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador to mention only a few, each with its own metaphor or allegory, note communism and the Evil Empire.
The successes at the spread of these ideas far outweigh the misery or failure of war itself, an imperial outpost can generally be established officially or unofficially when we decide victory is ours if not mission accomplished. This also avoids the embarrassment of cut and run politics and helicopters evacuating personnel from embassy rooftops or the corpses of combatants trickling home in the dead of the night and the absence of parades or brass bands and public displays of adulation. Heroism and honor in the face of a nefarious unnamed enemy that either blithely surrenders or insidiously evaporates with defeat is tough soap to sell.
The desire for endless war wants a cause that defies defeat and denies victory. America has found its cause if not its crusade, or has it found us? That cause has a name, which allows for perpetual conflict, its name is terror. Are there truly incredulous souls that believe terror and evil are concepts that can be conquered? If we as a nation are at war with terror to protect our selves and our loved ones and humanity from the onslaught of evil and the fear of it (and have engaged with the expectation of winning) can we not reasonably expect protection from poverty, ill health, disease, old age, ignorance, hunger, malnutrition, homelessness, hopelessness even death? Perhaps we have placed too much faith in things, as they ought to be rather than recognizing things as they are. Should terror be defeated will not existence itself be obliterated?
The ideals of Americans are elegant expressions of moral principals we would deem universal yet we equivocate about the meaning of torture and turn blind eyes from the establishment of a gulag a Gitmo. We embrace the concept of rendition to escape the rule of law in the name of our children’s safety. We accept covert surveillance of our private communications and decide we have the obligation to strike those who we only suspect of harboring evil thoughts before we are certain they intend harm and not just wish for it. The tyranny of personal financial inquiry as a defense against terror becomes more acceptable than drug money laundering or the hidden offshore assets of thieves, murderers and fiscal pirates allowed to operate with impunity.
Political blunderers rarely shed their own blood and the heroism attached to their convictions is a poor piece of patriotism. Justice is a side bar administered by the acquiescence of both the major political parties who would make traitors of those who question the innocence of a leadership mired in treason, tyranny, terror and torture. America must decide just when she became her enemy.
Paraphrasing the King James Bible “Terror ye shall have with ye always” appears more nonchalant than thoughtful. Still, it quite possibly has more validity than poverty, as in “The poor ye shall have with ye always”(Mark 14:7). As Americans we are quite fond of wars and pressing anyone’s God to its service, especially when we can elevate them metaphorically to levels of altruism as in the War on poverty, drugs or crime. Still, these are rather mundane wars and do not excite any true continuing sense of fear or glory. Yet, we accommodate our selves easily to their reality and relegate these struggles to the dusty corners of the under funded. The search for a cause to sustain war is fragile particularly if there is a chance one could actually be victorious or lead oneself to believe one could be victorious.
The American thirst for battle must always be draped in special cloth, a fabric of sacred rights sown with the words of freedom, liberty, equality or democracy (and of course self-defense). An American War cannot be fought against these words only for them. The essential nomenclature must be placed squarely in the hearts and minds of the people lest they loose sight of the goal and decide to cut and run. Establishment of these ideals by force of war appeals to Americas professed gallant sense of self. Those blessed with these ideals have become their sole arbiters in the world as if a special inheritance or providence passes them on from generation to generation to the chosen.
Noble aspirations such as these are self-defeating because there is always the possibility that they are attainable. Americas numerous martial endeavors illustrate this, some overt others covert. Just a few such adventures in the past odd hundred years or more: The Spanish American War and the liberation or subjugation of the Philippines and Cuba, the Great War making the world safe for democracy, WWII, The Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, incursions or interventions in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador to mention only a few, each with its own metaphor or allegory, note communism and the Evil Empire.
The successes at the spread of these ideas far outweigh the misery or failure of war itself, an imperial outpost can generally be established officially or unofficially when we decide victory is ours if not mission accomplished. This also avoids the embarrassment of cut and run politics and helicopters evacuating personnel from embassy rooftops or the corpses of combatants trickling home in the dead of the night and the absence of parades or brass bands and public displays of adulation. Heroism and honor in the face of a nefarious unnamed enemy that either blithely surrenders or insidiously evaporates with defeat is tough soap to sell.
The desire for endless war wants a cause that defies defeat and denies victory. America has found its cause if not its crusade, or has it found us? That cause has a name, which allows for perpetual conflict, its name is terror. Are there truly incredulous souls that believe terror and evil are concepts that can be conquered? If we as a nation are at war with terror to protect our selves and our loved ones and humanity from the onslaught of evil and the fear of it (and have engaged with the expectation of winning) can we not reasonably expect protection from poverty, ill health, disease, old age, ignorance, hunger, malnutrition, homelessness, hopelessness even death? Perhaps we have placed too much faith in things, as they ought to be rather than recognizing things as they are. Should terror be defeated will not existence itself be obliterated?
The ideals of Americans are elegant expressions of moral principals we would deem universal yet we equivocate about the meaning of torture and turn blind eyes from the establishment of a gulag a Gitmo. We embrace the concept of rendition to escape the rule of law in the name of our children’s safety. We accept covert surveillance of our private communications and decide we have the obligation to strike those who we only suspect of harboring evil thoughts before we are certain they intend harm and not just wish for it. The tyranny of personal financial inquiry as a defense against terror becomes more acceptable than drug money laundering or the hidden offshore assets of thieves, murderers and fiscal pirates allowed to operate with impunity.
Political blunderers rarely shed their own blood and the heroism attached to their convictions is a poor piece of patriotism. Justice is a side bar administered by the acquiescence of both the major political parties who would make traitors of those who question the innocence of a leadership mired in treason, tyranny, terror and torture. America must decide just when she became her enemy.
