| |
News and Society > Politics > Theyre Laughing at Us
0
Reviews [ add review ],
Article rating : 0.00, 0 votes. Author : Greg Ballard
You know they’re laughing at us, don’t you? They’re fighting a violent, world-wide religious war and we’re arguing amongst ourselves about protecting their civil rights. Once again we’re arguing amongst ourselves over a minor reduction of civil liberties in order to protect the nation from enemies. I can just see Bin Laden and Zarqawi doubled over in laughter.
Make no mistake, they want to overthrow our government. They say it almost every day. It’s taught in their schools and in many of their mosques. It’s in their literature. I’ve even heard it on “60 Minutes” from their own lips. They can’t quite believe how much help we’re giving them.
It reminds me of when the communists used to imply that they will defeat the West and that we will give them the rope to do it. How else can you explain a United States Senator, on the floor of the Senate, comparing U.S. policy at Guantanamo Bay to the Nazis and the gulags of the old Soviet Union? I know they had a good chuckle over that one. They knew that video clip would play on Al Jazeera for weeks on end.
Who else but Americans would make T-shirts ridiculing the searches of bags in the New York subway? Hundreds or thousands of people will die, but we will have maintained our civil liberties.
In fact, the security of all nations has always been a balance between the need for protective measures and civil liberties. A thousand years ago, due to constant threats to the existence of nations, the balance was very heavily weighted toward maximum government protection and few, if any, freedoms to the people. People were governed by and owed loyalty to a man, not a set of laws or ideas. Today, elected government officials and American servicemen take an oath to an idea, a way of life, not to a person. By way of contrast, didn’t we see just a few months ago Saudi leaders pledging their allegiance to a man, not to their country or a set of ideas? What does their Bill of Rights look like? And they’re our friend.
No matter the type, a government’s primary role is to continue to exist, and a government can be expected to defend its way of life. However, governments do change and did so dramatically and relatively frequently in the 20th Century, almost always to a new
government that promised more civil liberties, not fewer. Behind the change of governments and the increase of civil liberties was force. Nations don’t vote out dictators. Dictators are removed forcibly. Power to the People in the Philippines and the demise of Marcos could not have happened without the backing of the United States and the Philippine Army, led by the influence of Fidel Ramos. Similar scenarios occurred throughout the century.
Even Samuel Huntington said, “The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence.” Force was clearly necessary to implement the West’s ideals and civil liberties.
No one can argue that civil liberties are far more prevalent in representative governments than in dictatorships. Logically then, civil liberties are derived from the security of a nation; they should not be in conflict with it. It is the balance that is difficult to pinpoint. In times of crisis, the balance must tip toward a more protective posture. Civil liberties don’t protect governments; they protect the people in those governments. Consequently, civil liberties are not a useful defense against an outside enemy who wants to overthrow a government. If the government itself is at risk, then the balance must be adjusted accordingly. The protection of people’s lives and the security of the representative government should yield a higher precedence than civil liberties. The balance can be readjusted once the threat is passed. World War II is a prime example.
Should we yield and assume their form of government or should we adjust our balance between protective measures and civil liberties, thereby protecting our form of government? Which form of government would you prefer? Our police bypass searching a young Muslim who is sweating profusely and carrying a backpack, and then proceed to search the purse of a Swedish grandmother. We’re out of balance. They’re laughing.
A retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel, Greg Ballard mainly writes about leadership. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the prestigious School for Advanced Warfighting. He has published a book Small Unit Leadership, a concise, yet definitive guide for new, junior, and middle level leaders, intended to benefit not only individuals in positions of responsibility, but also those companies or organizations that have multiple levels of leadership. His website is http://www.smallunitleadership.com
Article reviews
Post your review
[ Note : no HTML/URLs - will removed automatically ]
More articles from News and Society > Politics
|
