Shattered Cross
I know a lot of fancy dancers,
People who can glide you on a floor,
They move so smooth but have no answers.
When you ask, "Why'd you come here for?"
"I don't know why."
--Hard Headed Woman, Cat Stevens
Don't bring me your tales of temptation and loss
The rags of your dreams
Your shattered cross
I have heard your confession I know who you blame
If you had it all back you'd just lose it again
--Shattered Cross, Darrel Scott
_______________
A meditation on independence:
The Declaration of Independence is a simple, straightforward document, and illuminating when read not swaddled in the flag.
The words translated into action which created the USA, whose birthday we celebrate this weekend. But looked at another way, our Founding fathers were criminals and traitors as they were rebelling against the legally constituted government of the colonies.
These men whom we revere were guerrillas, insurgents and rebels, quite simply. In addition, the document which they penned was not quite so revolutionary when one takes into consideration that most of the ideas had already been stated in places like the 1689 English Bill of rights (Independence, British-Style). Their innovation was to cobble on Rousseau's concept of natural rights.
Fast-Forward to 2009, and this government has forces deployed to over 80 nations around the world. We now fight and kill guerrillas, insurgents and rebels, calling them an evil. It seems our moral yardstick is not so absolute as it once was, or perhaps it never was.
Our War Department has morphed into a Defense Department, which does not live up to the name. Our far-flung troops are not exactly defending the homeland. Running NATO right up to the Russian borders, fighting in AFPAK and shuttering 130,000 troops in Iraq is not exactly "providing for the common defense."
Yet instead of asking, "Why?" the American people get caught up in the war maker's fancy dancing about their "How". We are offensive, in a defensive sort of way, and even the liberal democratic politicians will not extricate us from these quagmires.
We fight wars to keep the Koreans from invading Korea, and to keep the Vietnamese from fighting the Vietnamese. Ditto Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. has bypassed the Prussian model, as the state exists as an instrument of the defense establishment and related industries. The President is relegated to the position of rubber-stamping Department of Defense policy.
The U.S. was born in violence and illegal revolution, yet we now fight to deny others this same option. Nations have the right to determine their own destiny -- this is the basis of the Declaration of Independence.
Times change, but principles are immutable. We hold these truths to be self-evident.
People who can glide you on a floor,
They move so smooth but have no answers.
When you ask, "Why'd you come here for?"
"I don't know why."
--Hard Headed Woman, Cat Stevens
Don't bring me your tales of temptation and loss
The rags of your dreams
Your shattered cross
I have heard your confession I know who you blame
If you had it all back you'd just lose it again
--Shattered Cross, Darrel Scott
_______________
A meditation on independence:
The Declaration of Independence is a simple, straightforward document, and illuminating when read not swaddled in the flag.
The words translated into action which created the USA, whose birthday we celebrate this weekend. But looked at another way, our Founding fathers were criminals and traitors as they were rebelling against the legally constituted government of the colonies.
These men whom we revere were guerrillas, insurgents and rebels, quite simply. In addition, the document which they penned was not quite so revolutionary when one takes into consideration that most of the ideas had already been stated in places like the 1689 English Bill of rights (Independence, British-Style). Their innovation was to cobble on Rousseau's concept of natural rights.
Fast-Forward to 2009, and this government has forces deployed to over 80 nations around the world. We now fight and kill guerrillas, insurgents and rebels, calling them an evil. It seems our moral yardstick is not so absolute as it once was, or perhaps it never was.
Our War Department has morphed into a Defense Department, which does not live up to the name. Our far-flung troops are not exactly defending the homeland. Running NATO right up to the Russian borders, fighting in AFPAK and shuttering 130,000 troops in Iraq is not exactly "providing for the common defense."
Yet instead of asking, "Why?" the American people get caught up in the war maker's fancy dancing about their "How". We are offensive, in a defensive sort of way, and even the liberal democratic politicians will not extricate us from these quagmires.
We fight wars to keep the Koreans from invading Korea, and to keep the Vietnamese from fighting the Vietnamese. Ditto Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. has bypassed the Prussian model, as the state exists as an instrument of the defense establishment and related industries. The President is relegated to the position of rubber-stamping Department of Defense policy.
The U.S. was born in violence and illegal revolution, yet we now fight to deny others this same option. Nations have the right to determine their own destiny -- this is the basis of the Declaration of Independence.
Times change, but principles are immutable. We hold these truths to be self-evident.
Labels: declaration of independence, insurgents and guerrillas, rebels, u.s. is hypocritical
posted by rangeragainstwar at 7:35 AM
9 Comments:
We live in a country founded by slave owners who wanted to be free.
Allowing others self determination and the Right to Life, Liberty and "Happiness" are not compatible with the current US cabals system of control.
That uneasy club of business executives, generals, and politicos, as the indefatigable Howard Zinn pointed out, have the most developed and nefarious system of control ever divised and does not want the mass of humanity to have a decent standard of living or an uncontrolled education and skill set of critical thinking for then they would reject the authoritarian modes used by the cabal.
GeG,
Washington fought a war for self determination and Lincoln fought one to deny self determination.Which one we gonna believe?
Self determination usually translates out to national statehood status but recent US actions are based solely on human rights - these 2 concepts don't always mesh and our foreign policy does not clearly define our national policy re;this topic. Are we defenders of states or of individuals. Are we for morality or stability?
We can't seem to decide. The Right laughs at Carter but Bush did exactly the same thing, he hung his hat on human rights. The right will argue this point but it won't float. We must define who and what we are in the here and now.
jim
jim
Self determination translating to national statehood is the antithesis of current realpolitik. The Kurds are the most blatant example of a group being ignored whilst their erstwhile (Bush/Cheney NeoConwar) saviors supposedly champion them.
Of course, nuance doesn't win votes and translate to trillions funneled to the Merchants of Death and Destruction.
America....
G.D.,
Your store of impeccably appropriate tunes never ceases to amaze :)
GeG,
You've touched a key current in US policy which is also being played out in the world environment. Simply stated-are we for traditional national realities or are we concerned with rights of subgroups to create mini-states.There are realigning forces that are playing out and US policy remains contradictory and lacks internal validity.
By empowering the Kurds in region we are actually snubbing an old and faithful ally/Turkey.When we use Kurdish Terrorists to destabilize Iran this flows over into Turkey. So the question is-where do our interests lie?
Are we willing to be the eternal policemen of the world? And at what cost? What do we the taxpayers benefit?What about our national survival?For example- what is the benefit of our Kosovo/Bosnia exploits? Why are we expanding Nato?Why do we call NK and Iran evil when we have the ability to destroy civilization with our current nuclear weapon inventory? What makes us good ?Why do we maintain the levels of on alert/launch status weapons when there is no longer a Cold War?Why do we waste money like this for a deterant force that we no longer need? Why do we fear Al Q when we provoke the Russians and ignore the nuclear threat from this quarter? What about a faulty launch that could touch off a nuclear war? The threat of AQ is negligible compared to this possibility.
I hope you get my drift-there are powerful realities out there and we focus on total fantasy. God help us.
jim
Range, I once pointed basicly what you said out to a Vietnam veteran. His reaction/response?--"I never thought of it THAT way before".
Well Joe Biden says that "we cannot dictate to another soveriegn nation". But he was speaking of Israel and based on US foreign policy it appears that that is the only other nation the US considers to be soveriegn.
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