abrogation of international torture laws, and unilateral wars taken us? These, renditions, custodies without trial, and restrictions on civil liberties were all proselytized as the new necessities in the “war on terror.” (As of 2006, 83,000 persons were captured and detained in the Iraq, Afghan conflict by the U.S. military; none were brought to trial or convicted.) Are these topical and ‘allopathic’ procedures the means to improving relations and security in the world? In the case of expanded domestic security, billions of dollars have been spent on new infrastructures, equipment, R & D, personnel and training, etc. Where is the cost/benefit analysis, what has been improved to justify this, who decided on it, and who has profited? The U.S. looks more ‘terrifying’ to some than the “terrorists” do to us. If violence breeds violence, then we can stop it by being more transparent(see 9/11) and compassionate. In the growing ‘underworld’ of Washington secrecy, rumors used as hush money, and the over classification of information and public documents as “confidential,” “secret,” or “top secret,” – with the equally growing desire for leaks – there is as much suspicion, controversy, demands for declassifications, and criminal investigations. We’ve created a world and a mentality that defends this “need” to secrecy, yet somehow an inkling remains that public government and trust, run in this way, tends to darken what is supposed to be transparent. Were democracy and freedom once ‘the opposite of what we think’? Today we say their meaning is to ‘have and do as we please,’ to fulfill our God-given wishes, and to accept all of the repercussions because our ‘wish and will to do’ are incontrovertible American values. And we shall not hinder or decry our indulgences, whether wars, occupations, illegal acquisitions, over-consumptions, ignorances, environmental destructions, debts, self-instigated illnesses, or inside jobs, for not wanting to lose the ‘wish and the will.’ Though we are reminded that our nation’s founding and “enlightenment” means the ‘will to self-control’, self discipline and restraint, knowing what our mutual democratic principles are; so as not to be restrained or controlled from without: see tyranny, authoritarianism. There is no such thing as freedom. Freedom alone does not exist, but only in balance or relation with restriction, restraint, control; both are necessary in the functioning of any system. The question is, shall we apply our own restraints and controls, or shall they be applied on us? – as in a tyranny or fascist state. Knowing how to restrain and control ourselves is Enlightenment, the latter is control from without. When we forget or lose the first, the second takes over. I have been called “negative” for reprimanding and making critical observations of
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 04:16:45 +0000
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