The Road of Bones

Amnesty International is sending around a short video clip of average Americans talking about their feelings on how our President has canceled out the 5th Amendment to the Constitution. You can view it here.

I forwarded the link above to a person I know - not mentioning any names - and received this response ...

Such practices have already been used against American citizens - not on some faraway battlefield, but right here on our own soil. Yes, and FDR, a Democrat, had Japanese people rounded up and thrown into jail after Pearl Harbor. He was protecting the homeland.

Certainly this is an argument that may be made when discussing such a thing. To wit, I offered a reply ...

I really do not care what FDR's political affiliation was. He committed a grave sin against our nation.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan profusely apologized for FDR's sin. Reagan said that FRD's actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership."

Given your analogy, it should be fitting we assume Mr. Bush's sins in canceling of the majority of our bill of rights is based on the same - "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership."

In addition to Reagan, George H. W. Bush apologized for the internment. So did Clinton.

Our government paid $20,000 to every single person related to those interned during FDR's lunacy. Over $400 million was eventually paid out.

Sadly, the one thing that was missing in those days was a lack of heroic journalists, willing to tell the truth about what was going on.

Or, so says this entry in the Newspaper Research Journal ...

Today we stand on the brink of committing the same atrocity, and our "crisis" is not even 1/100th of what "the greatest generation" faced.

The World War II analogy does not, and will never, work with Iraq. We won WWII, and our Marshall Plan secured the peace.

We technically won the battle of Iraq. But our leaders were too short-sighted and profit-driven to have a Marshall Plan.

So the violence will continue, because occupations are a form of 4th Generation warfare. Organized military, throughout all time, has never been able to fight and win in such
a situation.

Occupations are not won. They are endured until the invader can no longer carry on. It is a fact of life, and has been since before the French - and Germans - tried occupying Rome.

If "Osama" - who our great leader seemingly does not care much about anymore - was really responsible for the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and the goal of such a thing was to bring down Western civilization, then he is succeeding in more ways than he could have ever imagined.

This undefined and perpetual state of war is merely a catalyst enabling further assaults on our freedoms and way of life. And that doesn't come from any terrorist hiding in a cave. It goes from the top, down. Mr. Bush is the most powerful president we have ever seen, and he acquired that crown by selling fear.

Fear of terror. Fear of brown people. Fear of Muslims. Fear of your brother, your neighbor, your countrymen.

There is no great threat to our society. Just a handful of criminals that deserve to be dealt with in a methodical, calculating, intelligent and precise manor.

But instead of this, we lose our freedoms?

Truly, we suffer the tyranny of so-called "good intentions."

A short response from my friend went something like this ...

If my choice is to lose some freedom or lose my life, I'll choose the former every time.

Thinking that our discussion was beginning to sound like a discussion that has been held over and over and over again since the inception of our nation, I brought it to a close.

As for me and mine, "Give me liberty or give me death."

Didn't a "traitor" once say that?

Given the value of this spontaneous dialog, I simply could not let it go to waste without other eyes seeking it out.

The back of my vehicle sports a bumper sticker that I take very seriously. It reads, "LIVE FREE OR DIE!"

This could also be expressed through a familiar insignia, which essentially means the same thing ...



I hope you feel the same.

Labels: Fascism, Liberty

Posted by The Gonzo Muckraker on Friday, February 09, 2007 at Friday, February 09, 2007 | Permalink