What am I defending? Am I defending my ideals? My country’s ideals? What are those, exactly? There’s no book anywhere that says exactly what the United States stands for in the world. We claim to support notions like human rights and equal justice, but we hold on to prisoners in Guantanamo Bay without bothering to charge them with anything, without offering them basic rights. We engage in torture. Our executive branch has lawyers who parse through the language of our international agreements to explain why we don’t have abide by them, why we can hold and torture prisoners indefinitely without telling them what they’re charged with. I don’t even understand why. Is that what I’m defending?
We claim to support things like freedom of the press, yet members of our Congress want a resolution denouncing (not to say prosecution of) one of this country’s premier newspapers, claiming the paper, by uncovering secret programs by which the government examined data on American citizens without warrant, has put “its own arrogant, elitist, left-wing agenda before the interests of the American people,” as if the interests of the American people were in fact served by allow the government to spy on them.
I don’t believe these things. If I’m that far out of the loop of what America and Americans believe, then I shouldn’t have to be here. Contract or not, if I can’t support the things I’m supposed to be defending, I don't really grasp exactly how the government expects me to be willing to die defending them. You wouldn't lay down your life for something you don't believe in, would you?
3 comments:
Oh so true my friend. However. If spying on my telephone conversations with out my knowledge to "protect" me and my country is the worst they're doing to the people, please let them do so. The most that they'll get out of any conversation of mine is entertainment at best. However, I choose to keep myself naive of the BS of government functionality as protection only to myself. Since the government doesn't directly effect my daily life and hasn't thus far with party change, I try to remain clear of the frustration of deciding whom I agree or disagree with. But I couldn't agree with you more about defending what you don't believe in. Have you ever watched the t.v. show M.A.S.H.?
I will never understand going after the newspaper that prints the information that is leaked. The custodian of the classified information is the one at fault. Oh yeah, if one is close to the president things seem to be classified or unclassified based on political not security interests. Pot calling kettle...
Oh, they are doing far worse than spying on phone conversations. My brother in law died a result of dirty bombs in the Gulf War... OUR dirty bombs. (Leukemia and kidney failure)
I love our country. I'm not a political basher by any means. But I do think that in order for America to be what we all want it to be, we need to stand up for what we believe is the 'right thing' to do. Not just on the big things, and yet not an extremist either.
Doing the right thing. Saying what we believe is right and/or wrong. It's what we should all be doing. It's why we are Americans, right?
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