Someone once described courage as not never being afraid, but going on in spite of the fear. As a nation and as elected officials we seem to be running dangerously low on courage. Oh we have the tough talk down, we have the posturing, but do we really have true courage? Since 9/11 when at least 2,985 people died from the terrorists attacks I think that what has been lost in all the hype is some perspective. While this was surely a tragedy, the population of the United States in the year 2001 was somewhere around 290 million people. Based on those numbers the terrorist attacks killed less than .02% of the population, yet since the attack we have responded by invading sovereign nations, torturing our fellow human beings, and gutting our Constitutional protections.
We currently have a sitting President with plummeting approval ratings in the last year of his failed presidency and yet he is still able to bully a frightened Democratic Congress still fearful of the “national security” question in the upcoming election. This President should not be able to get even universal health care passed at this point. But when courage is needed in the face of not only terrorism, but also tyranny, once again our elected officials can’t seem to find any. Because of these fears Democrats have caved on a number of issues trying to appear “tough” on terrorism. My question is what have we gained the last eight years with warrior sheep Bush in the White House being tough on terrorism? We must as a nation begin to demonstrate real courage by not allowing what the terrorists couldn’t take away to be taken away by the fear of terrorists.
Wiretapping orders approved by secret orders under the previous version of the surveillance law were set to begin expiring in August unless Congress acted. Heading into their political convention in Denver next month and on to the November Congressional elections, many Democrats were wary of handing the Republicans a potent political weapon.
The issue put Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, in a particularly precarious spot. He had long opposed giving legal immunity to the phone companies that took part in the N.S.A.’s wiretapping program, even threatening a filibuster during his run for the nomination. But on Wednesday, he ended up voting for what he called “an improved but imperfect bill” after backing a failed attempt earlier in the day to strip the immunity provision from the bill through an amendment. NY Times
It is a sad day when even the presumptive nominee of the opposition party feels compelled by political expediency to succumb to the political reality that is now America. The thing that I can not understand is how can we as a nation ever expect unity when we can’t even look at the same information and agree on what we are seeing. It’s like looking at a man being lynched and someone calling it a suicide. We as the governed of this country must begin to exert some courage of our own and start demanding an end to this childish bickering and obstructionism. It is time for some truth and honesty about what is going on in the name of freedom.
If we continue to allow our freedoms to be eroded then the terrorists will have created another Tet offensive. In the Tet offensive in Vietnam the Vietcong engaged in an all out offensive throughout the South in an effort to demonstrate that no area was safe from their reach. While the offensive was a military disaster it was a political windfall for the Vietcong. It was the turning point of the war for many Americans because it showed the disconnect from what the government was saying and the reality on the ground. Do you think it mattered to the Vietcong that it was a political decision to leave their country and not a military victory?
In many ways we are encountering the same thing today with the war on terror. If we lose our freedoms then the terrorists have won. It won’t matter that it wasn’t a military victory, they don’t have the numbers or technology to accomplish a military victory. They will have won in the sense that we will live in a constant state of terror and we will no longer have the rights we are suppose to be fighting for. They will care less if our rights were taken by a jihad or loss to a fear mongering political class.
The real courage will not be found in Washington, they have proven over and over that many of them lack the courage of their convictions or they have no convictions. No my friends the courage must come from the people. Just as with the Tet offensive it was the grassroots movement that turned the tide against the war. It wasn’t the “dirty hippies” but just everyday folks saying enough was enough. They demonstrated the courage that was missing in Washington. They were willing to take to the streets to reclaim the idea of “government by the people”. We have never needed courage in this country more than we do now. Today we face the lost of our freedoms in the name of saving them.
Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. - Margaret Chase Smith
Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence. - Henri Frederic Amiel
The Disputed Truth
__________________________
From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth; from the laziness that is content with half-truths; from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth – oh God of Truth deliver us!— Unknown (blog
)
I am not happy about the powers
given to the gov't under FISA legislation, but I think it is necessary given the threat level. If you think the threat from the Islamofascists is serious, that we are in a war with radical islam, which is what I think, then this kind of legislation makes sense. If, on the other hand, you think that the threats coming from the islamofascists are just plain lawlessness, and so can be handled by the normal criminal justice system, then why have FISA?
I favored, after 911 jihad attacks, a declaration of war against radical islam. I still do. That's how serious the threat is.
__________________________name the enemy, win the war
Quote from a Bookmaker
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
__________________________In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,
Put that in context of FDR's decision
to put the Japanese in internment camps during WWll.
__________________________It is the economy, stupid.
That doesn't matter
The Constitution has no provision that says you can ignore it if the legislation is a really good idea or necessary. China's constitution does have such a provision, and the government uses it to ignore the rest of the constitution.
If you truly believe these powers are needed, then you should advocate for an amendment so that the government does have these powers.
Personally, I think we don't need FISA at all, but then again I'm just an America-hating leftist. The world is much, much safer than you'd be willing to believe.
__________________________I never broke the law; I am the law! --
George W. BushJudge DreddI'm listening to...
My biggest fear
is for my economic freedom.
Are we trying to solve the wrong problem?
__________________________It is the economy, stupid.
Nicely stated
The goal of terrorism is to create terror. We seem at times to be positively embracing a terrified state.
There is no point in having rights and freedoms that are to be surrendered at the first sign of a threat. Willingly given up, no less, by politicians eager to appear tough and voters looking for security.
Edit: I promoted this to the front page.
__________________________Come, my friends. 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world -- Tennyson
fear and power
Back in the year 2000 or so, I read an interesting essay criticizing the Castro regime in Cuba. The basic argument was that American hostility towards the Cuban government was no excuse for tyranny on the part of the Cuban government. The author contrasted the Cuban situation with the situation of the American people immediately after our revolution. Despite massive threats to our independence, our government accepted substantial limitations on its power, and we still thrived.
Young America faced threats both from the British Empire and from the Native Americans our borders. The British Empire still maintained the strongest military in the world and still wanted to conquer the Americas, yet we resisted this without establishing a particularly strong central government, let alone a life-long dictatorship. The basic lesson is that we can defend ourselves without relinquishing our freedoms to "our protectors" in the government.
__________________________"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was
made a man." --Frederick Douglas
Further
forgiven wrote:
"Since 9/11 when at least 2,985 people died from the terrorists attacks I think that what has been lost in all the hype is some perspective. While this was surely a tragedy, the population of the United States in the year 2001 was somewhere around 290 million people. Based on those numbers the terrorist attacks killed less than .02% of the population, yet since the attack we have responded by invading sovereign nations, torturing our fellow human beings, and gutting our Constitutional protections"
The goal of the attacks was to kill alot more than 2,985 innocient civilians. If the attacks had taken place after 9:00 am or the circumstances been different, it is not hard to imagine hundreds of thousands of civilians killed. I have concluded that it is very difficult convince others of the threat level we are confronted with. Fortunately, even BHO (and apparently 2/3 of the US Senate) finally agrees with me re FISA.
__________________________name the enemy, win the war
Isn't that the point
as mentioned above...... ! Just imagine if....... what could have happened......
and fear creeps upon you. That is the point of terrorism in the first place! To create an atmosphere of terror!
__________________________It is the economy, stupid.
how many were killed?
Let's stick to reality, not our imaginations. If we rely on our imaginations, it's not hard to imagine that the whole thing might have fizzled and no-one would have gotten killed (or only the planes were destroyed, with a few hundred killed).
Likewise, it isn't hard to imagine that any military response to the attacks could have resulted in hundreds of millions of people (including hundreds of thousands of Americans) being killed.Likewise, it isn't hard to imagine that a surveillance state could lead to dictatorship and constant warfare.The fact is that the WTC attacks were the largest attacks ever carried out. A similar attack was only attempted once, 7 years prior to the WTC attacks. The data is sparse, but there is no reason to believe that attacks of this magnitude can be carried out with any regularity, or that larger attacks are a reasonable risk.
Also, where does that "hundreds of thousands" of deaths come from? I couldn't find the numbers, but I don't expect that the twin towers could hold more than tens of thousands of occupants.
__________________________"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was
made a man." --Frederick Douglas
"Worst" Case
Maybe the "or the circumstances been different" means "or different targets"
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In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,
What's wrong with using our
imagination. The jihadis and OBL who attacked on 911 were certainly using their imagination. Maybe the next time they will use biological weapons or a dirty bomb. You naively underestimate our enemy. When dealing with an enemy that is willing to kill themselves in the process of trying to murder us, that is one very motivated enemy.
__________________________name the enemy, win the war
as long as it is discounted as being improbable
It's great to consider all possible events, as long as you assign the proper probability to them. When probabilities are small (i.e. we used our imagination) it is worthwhile to make small modifications to mitigate the damage from the potential attack, or reduce the probability a little more. It's not worth removing barriers to the abuse of power by the government.
__________________________"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was
made a man." --Frederick Douglas
Constitutional protections gutted?
Which of your freedoms have been taken from you? If you live in DC or Chicago, you were recently given more freedom, not less.
a framing point
While I agree with the main point of what you wrote, the above idea really bugged me. The terroists are not seeking to simply make us miserable. It sounds like you have bought into Bush's "they hate us because of our freedoms" BS.
They have specific political goals (mainly regarding the Middle East). While it's true that they can "defeat us" in the sense that you've mentioned, that doesn't mean that they have won.
Tyranny in America may provide them with some propaganda advantage (by eliminating an appealing alternative), but there's no reason to believe that they would consider a fascist America to be any better (in itself) than a liberal America.
__________________________"You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was
made a man." --Frederick Douglas