TWO NATIONS AT WAR
TWO NATIONS AT WAR
By Stirling Newberry
There are two nations at war in America. One has its founding holiday on July 4th, in memory of the declaration, in Congress assembled of 13 United States. It is a nation that is often at odds with itself, contentious, pressing interest against interest, faction against faction - as it was meant to do, in order to preserve the freedoms of all from the tyranny of a passing majority.
The other nation is not America, and it has as its founding national holiday September 11th. For it is on that day that it was able to turn a bare majority in the House of Representatives, a questionable election for the Presidency, and a tie in the Senate, into an overwhelming mandate to remake the country. That effort centered around invading Iraq, and then demanding personal fealty to the military from all US citizens.
That attempt has failed, which is why this second nation now urges war against the constitution. As the core of support for the ill considered, and indeed illegal and unconstitutional policies pursued has grown weaker, the movement for this other nation has grown more naked in its hatred of the Bill of Rights.
This is not an isolated incident. In recent days more and more violence has been used against protesters. Cross have been knocked down to dishonour the dead.
We have reached a near complete reversal of the 1960's. In the 1960's the left was the source of the most extreme groups. To some extent there were social causes, including discrimination against African Americans, and a war which claimed as many dead in a month as Iraq has in 3 years. However, as importantly, the members of the extreme parts of the left, and here I speak of organizations such as the Red Brigade in Europe, did not recognize the value of civil society. This was echoed in rhetoric by others, and was used as a broad brush to paint all of the left.
For the last 20 years, the pendulum has swung in the other direction. It has not been the left which has advocated violence, but the right. There have been bombings against clinics, there have been militia movements, there was the Oklahoma city bombing, which is still the worst act of domestic terrorism in the United States since the Civil War.
The right has increasingly placed an eliminationist and liquidationist rhetoric at the center of its political stance.
To understand how far we have come, let me recount a story from 1992. I was working at the American Legion in San Francisco, at 2 am in the morning, a member called up and said "David Duke is a pig fucker. I want you to know that." Well, now someone who is as extreme as David Duke heads that organization, and has joined the select company of those who engage in ovine fornication.
I do not, and cannot, believe that the majority of veterans have forgotten who serves who in the military. It is our line of defence against the dangers of a standing army - indeed the founding fathers feared a standing army as a great threat to liberty. By circumstances and our roll in the world, we have been forced to have a standing army and navy. Which means that we must be doubly vigilant, as a faction of that standing army has every chance to grow in power and influence.
To participate in civic dialog, to peaceably assemble and petition leaders for a redress of grievances, to be free in speech and in the press are fundamental rights of Americans. To use them in the process of deciding as a sovereign people the policy and purpose of government action is a duty. Those who cannot uphold their oath to protect and defend the constitution, should not serve.
There will always be times when this seems to be a hinderance to our fighting ability. However, America has an almost unbroken record of victory in war. This is because while dictatorships may seem more efficient, they are also prone to the weaknesses of a single man. As many brilliant strikes as Hitler exeucted, he blundered as often. While he was able to swallow almost all of Europe, his unfree state could not digest it. While Stalin had the ability to plan for decades, without a civil society, his Soviet Union blundered over and over again, and millions of Russians paid the ultimate penalty for it.
Thus participation is not a weakness, but a strength.
The second nation, the one that celebrates September 11th with concerts and a festive atmosphere, has forgotten these and many other lessons from American history. Indeed they wish to erase American history, and replace it with another history, one alien to the American character. Dogmatic, militaristic, unquestioning, recklessly violent, heedless of consequences and uncomprehending of precedent.
It is time for Americans to realize that this second nation is not merely a faction of their own, but a threat to their way of life, and the liberties which they cherish and use every day. That it's glowering warnings to "watch what you say" are not merely political rhetoric, but fundamental belief.
The reason this has boiled over now is simple. Until recently, the phrase "support our troops" and the "military families" were presumed to be mantras for the Republicans and for Bush. Cindy Sheehan, for all of her flaws as a spokes person, has taken that away from them. They must aggressively move to take that back. They must force military personnel and veterans to circle the wagons.
It is time for those who have worn our nation's flag in the line of duty - in whatever line of duty - to repudiate this second nation, which does not share their national holiday, nor their sense of who serves who while in uniform. They must repudiate unAmerican sentiments. America will not win this war by being what we are not. This nation overcame the most terrible civil war fought until that time, this nation beat the greatest imperial power in the world, twice. This nation defeated a surging Teutonic nationalism, twice, and at the same time humbled the empire of the sun. It outlasted a rigid ideological political empire that at its peak held in thrall nearly half the world's population.
And while at times and in places it failed to live up to the letter and spirit of its creed, it never engaged in a wholesale abandonment of those truths which it holds to be self-evident. What Cadmus of the American Legion demands is tyranny, and is a nation fit to be ruled over by tyrants alone. It is time to recognize that this kind of extremism must come to an end now, or most assuredly, it will come to an end later.
By Stirling Newberry
There are two nations at war in America. One has its founding holiday on July 4th, in memory of the declaration, in Congress assembled of 13 United States. It is a nation that is often at odds with itself, contentious, pressing interest against interest, faction against faction - as it was meant to do, in order to preserve the freedoms of all from the tyranny of a passing majority.
The other nation is not America, and it has as its founding national holiday September 11th. For it is on that day that it was able to turn a bare majority in the House of Representatives, a questionable election for the Presidency, and a tie in the Senate, into an overwhelming mandate to remake the country. That effort centered around invading Iraq, and then demanding personal fealty to the military from all US citizens.
That attempt has failed, which is why this second nation now urges war against the constitution. As the core of support for the ill considered, and indeed illegal and unconstitutional policies pursued has grown weaker, the movement for this other nation has grown more naked in its hatred of the Bill of Rights.
This is not an isolated incident. In recent days more and more violence has been used against protesters. Cross have been knocked down to dishonour the dead.
We have reached a near complete reversal of the 1960's. In the 1960's the left was the source of the most extreme groups. To some extent there were social causes, including discrimination against African Americans, and a war which claimed as many dead in a month as Iraq has in 3 years. However, as importantly, the members of the extreme parts of the left, and here I speak of organizations such as the Red Brigade in Europe, did not recognize the value of civil society. This was echoed in rhetoric by others, and was used as a broad brush to paint all of the left.
For the last 20 years, the pendulum has swung in the other direction. It has not been the left which has advocated violence, but the right. There have been bombings against clinics, there have been militia movements, there was the Oklahoma city bombing, which is still the worst act of domestic terrorism in the United States since the Civil War.
The right has increasingly placed an eliminationist and liquidationist rhetoric at the center of its political stance.
To understand how far we have come, let me recount a story from 1992. I was working at the American Legion in San Francisco, at 2 am in the morning, a member called up and said "David Duke is a pig fucker. I want you to know that." Well, now someone who is as extreme as David Duke heads that organization, and has joined the select company of those who engage in ovine fornication.
I do not, and cannot, believe that the majority of veterans have forgotten who serves who in the military. It is our line of defence against the dangers of a standing army - indeed the founding fathers feared a standing army as a great threat to liberty. By circumstances and our roll in the world, we have been forced to have a standing army and navy. Which means that we must be doubly vigilant, as a faction of that standing army has every chance to grow in power and influence.
To participate in civic dialog, to peaceably assemble and petition leaders for a redress of grievances, to be free in speech and in the press are fundamental rights of Americans. To use them in the process of deciding as a sovereign people the policy and purpose of government action is a duty. Those who cannot uphold their oath to protect and defend the constitution, should not serve.
There will always be times when this seems to be a hinderance to our fighting ability. However, America has an almost unbroken record of victory in war. This is because while dictatorships may seem more efficient, they are also prone to the weaknesses of a single man. As many brilliant strikes as Hitler exeucted, he blundered as often. While he was able to swallow almost all of Europe, his unfree state could not digest it. While Stalin had the ability to plan for decades, without a civil society, his Soviet Union blundered over and over again, and millions of Russians paid the ultimate penalty for it.
Thus participation is not a weakness, but a strength.
The second nation, the one that celebrates September 11th with concerts and a festive atmosphere, has forgotten these and many other lessons from American history. Indeed they wish to erase American history, and replace it with another history, one alien to the American character. Dogmatic, militaristic, unquestioning, recklessly violent, heedless of consequences and uncomprehending of precedent.
It is time for Americans to realize that this second nation is not merely a faction of their own, but a threat to their way of life, and the liberties which they cherish and use every day. That it's glowering warnings to "watch what you say" are not merely political rhetoric, but fundamental belief.
The reason this has boiled over now is simple. Until recently, the phrase "support our troops" and the "military families" were presumed to be mantras for the Republicans and for Bush. Cindy Sheehan, for all of her flaws as a spokes person, has taken that away from them. They must aggressively move to take that back. They must force military personnel and veterans to circle the wagons.
It is time for those who have worn our nation's flag in the line of duty - in whatever line of duty - to repudiate this second nation, which does not share their national holiday, nor their sense of who serves who while in uniform. They must repudiate unAmerican sentiments. America will not win this war by being what we are not. This nation overcame the most terrible civil war fought until that time, this nation beat the greatest imperial power in the world, twice. This nation defeated a surging Teutonic nationalism, twice, and at the same time humbled the empire of the sun. It outlasted a rigid ideological political empire that at its peak held in thrall nearly half the world's population.
And while at times and in places it failed to live up to the letter and spirit of its creed, it never engaged in a wholesale abandonment of those truths which it holds to be self-evident. What Cadmus of the American Legion demands is tyranny, and is a nation fit to be ruled over by tyrants alone. It is time to recognize that this kind of extremism must come to an end now, or most assuredly, it will come to an end later.
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