Love It, or Leave It
Beginning during August of 2005, two political armies began facing off at Crawford, Texas. One group wants the American troops in Iraq to come home as soon as possible. Its leader is Cindy Sheehan, whose son - a US serviceman - was killed fighting in Iraq. The other group, who strongly favor continuing the war, have repeatedly expressed their strong disapproval, angrily asking: "Who does Cindy Sheehan think she is to tell the President how to run the country or the war? Who does she think she is to request that the President speak to her, and to answer her questions to her satisfaction?"
Easy. Cindy Sheehan thinks she is a citizen living in a free Democracy. For the benefit of anyone who hasn't studied the subject, here is how a Democracy works.
Democracy's principles operate exactly the same for any nation, large or small. The citizens create and organize all the things that any nation requires: roads and transportation; police and fire-fighters; safety inspectors and school teachers; sewers and street-lights; civil servants and soldiers; tax collectors (to gather the revenue to finance everything), and executives (to make it all run smoothly and fairly).
Any persons who are granted any job within a Democratic government are there for one reason, and one reason only: because the citizens of that Democracy have given them the privilege and the honor of serving their nation. If any person holding any government job fails to meet the standards of the citizens - regardless how low or high that public official may be - it is those officials' unfailing duty, their unrelenting obligation, to fully snap to attention and provide a good and solid explanation of their job performance. We are their bosses, always, NEVER the other way around. No exceptions.
Why? Because, in a Democracy, the officials are in every way the employees and the servants of the People. Period. That is the very essence of Democracy and the absolute definition of Democracy. In nations where government officials command the people, where the officials and bureaucrats can give orders without having to answer to their people, that is called a "totalitarian" government, or a "police state," or a "dictatorship," all of which are the total opposites of Democracy, the enemies of Democracy.
Thus, if the dog-catcher isn't catching dogs, any citizen of a Democracy has the right to demand an explanation, and to even demand that the dog-catcher be promptly fired. If the fire-chief cannot properly put out fires, it is every citizen's right to demand an explanation or a resignation. If any public officials betray or lose the trust of their employers (the citizens who hired them to manage the affairs of their nation) then all citizens have the right and the duty to demand that the offender fully explain his actions; and, if deemed necessary, demand the offenders' replacement; and, if warranted, demand their criminal prosecution and maximum punishment.
Likewise, if an elected chief executive - of any party - promises to protect his nation, but his hand-picked lieutenants fall asleep at their posts and permit a most grave attack to occur during his watch; if he responds to that attack by mistakenly launching a massive war against a foreign nation who was not responsible for the original attack; if he swears on a stack of Bibles that he has fully reliable evidence that the nation he is mistakenly invading is an absolute imminent threat against the US - a charge which he must later admit was unfounded and incorrect; if he embarrasses his nation and his countrymen by snidely accusing other world leaders of being cowardly and gutless for not following his footsteps into a horribly mistaken, deadly and costly war; if his incompetence and malfeasance leads to the needless horrid deaths and catastrophic mutilations of thousands of his nation's brave young soldiers, and causes life-ruining injuries to tens of thousands more of his nation's military heros; if those same errors in his military and political judgement result in the mortal injuries and deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and children in the foreign nation he wrongly attacked while swearing to be defending its people; if all of the above happens while a small handful of that chief executive's friends and supporters are sharing tens of billions of dollars in personal profits from his unwanted and never-ending war, all while his own nation's military families and common folk are forever short of money for food, rent, home-heating fuel, clothing, medicine and doctor visits for their children... then one simple question deserves an answer.
Namely: In our noble Democracy, why isn't every citizen commanding that this elected official - who the American people entrusted with leading and protecting us, and whether he were to be Republican or Democrat or anything else... why isn't every citizen demanding that he stand promptly at attention, front and center, to justify the utterly catastrophic, humiliating, debilitating, bankrupting, crippling, horrendous, unprecedented world-class disaster and never-ending hellish bottomless-pit of war into which he has led our great nation?
That is how Democracy works.
Naturally, if that leader can defend his actions and policies to the satisfaction of the citizens who have inquired, then he has received a vote of confidence and everything can continue as before. But if he cannot defend his horribly failed leadership and policies, then it is those citizens right and duty to proceed with whatever corrective or disciplinary actions that are granted to them by the timeless wisdom of the US Constitution.
Still, in all fairness, we should consider a deeper and more subtle question. What do we say to those war-proponents who point out that any public challenging of a Commander in Chief "Sends the wrong signal to our enemies; makes us look weak and undecisive; and causes our braves troops to feel that we aren't supporting them". That is a fair question. And the answer is simple.
Our sacred Freedom of Speech always - always - comes first, always overrides all else. Why? To understand, simply consider the opposite. Imagine that a president were to be elected some day - Democrat or Republican or whoever - whose policies and actions were greatly out of line with the American values that you and everyone you know holds dear. Imagine further that he sent hundreds of thousands of our troops to fight and die in some war that you were certain was very ill-advised, wasteful, costly, unneeded, or which served mainly to enrich his well-heeled supporters within the corporate marketplace of warfare. Or imagine that our troops were asked to fight on the side of the communists in Cuba or in Korea. Would you be quiet? Would you let your sons and daughters continue to die in vain each day, continue to be gravely wounded by the thousands, month after month, year after year, for no good reason, or in support of regimes that ran counter to American ideals? Or would you honor your sacred duty as an American to speak out - early and often, loudly and tirelessly, repeatedly and relentlessly - to let your Truth be told?
Would you let your Freedom of Speech be inhibited because your words might be interpretted as unsupportive of the ill-advised president, or because of the possibility of your words being seen as some kind of contrary "signals" in the minds of total strangers in foreign lands? Would you abandon your Freedom of Speech out of fear of their theoretical thoughts, whoever they might be? Would you not know in your heart and belly that our brave troops in battle would be painfully praying and wondering each day, "What in the name of God are we doing here? Why have our countrymen and leaders abandonned us and left us to be slaughtered in this meaningless hell-hole?" Would not the most loving and loyal support of our precious troops be demonstrated by letting them know that help, relief and sanity were on the way, by doing everything possible to get them back home, safe and sound, as soon as we could? In short, in that situation, would you let anything stand in the way of Democracy, stand in the way of our cherished and hard-fought Freedom of Speech?
Indeed, if you did throw away your precious freedoms so casually, then all that any new president (of any party) would have to do upon his inauguration would be to promptly launch some needless war, and then demand that all 300 million Americans must be totally quiet for four years, lest any foreigners perceive some "signal" that everybody in the country may not agree 100% about his decisions. Does that sound like America to you? Does that sound like Liberty to you? Does that sound like Democracy to you?
To the contrary, the very essence of America and Democracy is that - even though we disagree, as all humans always do - we still all stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, coast to coast, under the banner of Freedom and Liberty that lets us ALL be free, even free to agree to disagree when necessary.
Of course, the pro-war camp stationed at Crawford, and their various supporters around the US, have every right to choose an alternative form of government to live under if they disapprove of Democracy's design. Fortunately for anyone who wants to stifle or suppress the voice of our free People, nations like China and North Korea are always seeking single-minded robots who will work hard, keep their mouths shut, and keep their political opinions forever unspoken. Or, as an alternative, those same eager pro-war warriors might remember - each time they rightfully shout "God Bless America!" - that thus far God has blessed America... and that He has blessed us with a blessing called "Democracy"... and that He has blessed us with the freedom to speak our mind, and to loudly and persistently challenge every elected (and un-elected) official to whom we have granted the honor and the privilege of administering our great nation's affairs... and that (up until now, at least) none of us have ever had to worry that someone might ask us "just who the hell we think we are" to tell a President how to run our country, or whether or not we want an unneeded war, or to ask us "just who the hell we think we are" to command our public servants to answer our questions about how our nation is being managed or absysmally mis-managed.
In a Democracy, it is our right and our duty to tell every official how we think our nation should be run, which of their actions we disapprove of, and which wars we want our nation and sons and daughters to wage. And it is those officials' sworn commitment and absolute obligation to jump whenever we whistle. Period. "But, they are too busy!" the pro-war die-hards may say. Still, I say - and every thinking American knows - if those leaders have the time to forever attend rallies of their cheering supporters - then those leaders have the time to talk to all of us.
God Bless Democracy. Love it, or leave it.
Patrick_Q_Henry@yahoo.com
Easy. Cindy Sheehan thinks she is a citizen living in a free Democracy. For the benefit of anyone who hasn't studied the subject, here is how a Democracy works.
Democracy's principles operate exactly the same for any nation, large or small. The citizens create and organize all the things that any nation requires: roads and transportation; police and fire-fighters; safety inspectors and school teachers; sewers and street-lights; civil servants and soldiers; tax collectors (to gather the revenue to finance everything), and executives (to make it all run smoothly and fairly).
Any persons who are granted any job within a Democratic government are there for one reason, and one reason only: because the citizens of that Democracy have given them the privilege and the honor of serving their nation. If any person holding any government job fails to meet the standards of the citizens - regardless how low or high that public official may be - it is those officials' unfailing duty, their unrelenting obligation, to fully snap to attention and provide a good and solid explanation of their job performance. We are their bosses, always, NEVER the other way around. No exceptions.
Why? Because, in a Democracy, the officials are in every way the employees and the servants of the People. Period. That is the very essence of Democracy and the absolute definition of Democracy. In nations where government officials command the people, where the officials and bureaucrats can give orders without having to answer to their people, that is called a "totalitarian" government, or a "police state," or a "dictatorship," all of which are the total opposites of Democracy, the enemies of Democracy.
Thus, if the dog-catcher isn't catching dogs, any citizen of a Democracy has the right to demand an explanation, and to even demand that the dog-catcher be promptly fired. If the fire-chief cannot properly put out fires, it is every citizen's right to demand an explanation or a resignation. If any public officials betray or lose the trust of their employers (the citizens who hired them to manage the affairs of their nation) then all citizens have the right and the duty to demand that the offender fully explain his actions; and, if deemed necessary, demand the offenders' replacement; and, if warranted, demand their criminal prosecution and maximum punishment.
Likewise, if an elected chief executive - of any party - promises to protect his nation, but his hand-picked lieutenants fall asleep at their posts and permit a most grave attack to occur during his watch; if he responds to that attack by mistakenly launching a massive war against a foreign nation who was not responsible for the original attack; if he swears on a stack of Bibles that he has fully reliable evidence that the nation he is mistakenly invading is an absolute imminent threat against the US - a charge which he must later admit was unfounded and incorrect; if he embarrasses his nation and his countrymen by snidely accusing other world leaders of being cowardly and gutless for not following his footsteps into a horribly mistaken, deadly and costly war; if his incompetence and malfeasance leads to the needless horrid deaths and catastrophic mutilations of thousands of his nation's brave young soldiers, and causes life-ruining injuries to tens of thousands more of his nation's military heros; if those same errors in his military and political judgement result in the mortal injuries and deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and children in the foreign nation he wrongly attacked while swearing to be defending its people; if all of the above happens while a small handful of that chief executive's friends and supporters are sharing tens of billions of dollars in personal profits from his unwanted and never-ending war, all while his own nation's military families and common folk are forever short of money for food, rent, home-heating fuel, clothing, medicine and doctor visits for their children... then one simple question deserves an answer.
Namely: In our noble Democracy, why isn't every citizen commanding that this elected official - who the American people entrusted with leading and protecting us, and whether he were to be Republican or Democrat or anything else... why isn't every citizen demanding that he stand promptly at attention, front and center, to justify the utterly catastrophic, humiliating, debilitating, bankrupting, crippling, horrendous, unprecedented world-class disaster and never-ending hellish bottomless-pit of war into which he has led our great nation?
That is how Democracy works.
Naturally, if that leader can defend his actions and policies to the satisfaction of the citizens who have inquired, then he has received a vote of confidence and everything can continue as before. But if he cannot defend his horribly failed leadership and policies, then it is those citizens right and duty to proceed with whatever corrective or disciplinary actions that are granted to them by the timeless wisdom of the US Constitution.
Still, in all fairness, we should consider a deeper and more subtle question. What do we say to those war-proponents who point out that any public challenging of a Commander in Chief "Sends the wrong signal to our enemies; makes us look weak and undecisive; and causes our braves troops to feel that we aren't supporting them". That is a fair question. And the answer is simple.
Our sacred Freedom of Speech always - always - comes first, always overrides all else. Why? To understand, simply consider the opposite. Imagine that a president were to be elected some day - Democrat or Republican or whoever - whose policies and actions were greatly out of line with the American values that you and everyone you know holds dear. Imagine further that he sent hundreds of thousands of our troops to fight and die in some war that you were certain was very ill-advised, wasteful, costly, unneeded, or which served mainly to enrich his well-heeled supporters within the corporate marketplace of warfare. Or imagine that our troops were asked to fight on the side of the communists in Cuba or in Korea. Would you be quiet? Would you let your sons and daughters continue to die in vain each day, continue to be gravely wounded by the thousands, month after month, year after year, for no good reason, or in support of regimes that ran counter to American ideals? Or would you honor your sacred duty as an American to speak out - early and often, loudly and tirelessly, repeatedly and relentlessly - to let your Truth be told?
Would you let your Freedom of Speech be inhibited because your words might be interpretted as unsupportive of the ill-advised president, or because of the possibility of your words being seen as some kind of contrary "signals" in the minds of total strangers in foreign lands? Would you abandon your Freedom of Speech out of fear of their theoretical thoughts, whoever they might be? Would you not know in your heart and belly that our brave troops in battle would be painfully praying and wondering each day, "What in the name of God are we doing here? Why have our countrymen and leaders abandonned us and left us to be slaughtered in this meaningless hell-hole?" Would not the most loving and loyal support of our precious troops be demonstrated by letting them know that help, relief and sanity were on the way, by doing everything possible to get them back home, safe and sound, as soon as we could? In short, in that situation, would you let anything stand in the way of Democracy, stand in the way of our cherished and hard-fought Freedom of Speech?
Indeed, if you did throw away your precious freedoms so casually, then all that any new president (of any party) would have to do upon his inauguration would be to promptly launch some needless war, and then demand that all 300 million Americans must be totally quiet for four years, lest any foreigners perceive some "signal" that everybody in the country may not agree 100% about his decisions. Does that sound like America to you? Does that sound like Liberty to you? Does that sound like Democracy to you?
To the contrary, the very essence of America and Democracy is that - even though we disagree, as all humans always do - we still all stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, coast to coast, under the banner of Freedom and Liberty that lets us ALL be free, even free to agree to disagree when necessary.
Of course, the pro-war camp stationed at Crawford, and their various supporters around the US, have every right to choose an alternative form of government to live under if they disapprove of Democracy's design. Fortunately for anyone who wants to stifle or suppress the voice of our free People, nations like China and North Korea are always seeking single-minded robots who will work hard, keep their mouths shut, and keep their political opinions forever unspoken. Or, as an alternative, those same eager pro-war warriors might remember - each time they rightfully shout "God Bless America!" - that thus far God has blessed America... and that He has blessed us with a blessing called "Democracy"... and that He has blessed us with the freedom to speak our mind, and to loudly and persistently challenge every elected (and un-elected) official to whom we have granted the honor and the privilege of administering our great nation's affairs... and that (up until now, at least) none of us have ever had to worry that someone might ask us "just who the hell we think we are" to tell a President how to run our country, or whether or not we want an unneeded war, or to ask us "just who the hell we think we are" to command our public servants to answer our questions about how our nation is being managed or absysmally mis-managed.
In a Democracy, it is our right and our duty to tell every official how we think our nation should be run, which of their actions we disapprove of, and which wars we want our nation and sons and daughters to wage. And it is those officials' sworn commitment and absolute obligation to jump whenever we whistle. Period. "But, they are too busy!" the pro-war die-hards may say. Still, I say - and every thinking American knows - if those leaders have the time to forever attend rallies of their cheering supporters - then those leaders have the time to talk to all of us.
God Bless Democracy. Love it, or leave it.
Patrick_Q_Henry@yahoo.com
posted by Patrick Q. Henry at 9:29 AM
1 Comments:
Well put...just came across your blog by accident and stayed for some good reading.
Cheers.
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