In Defense of Progress, Liberty, Civilization and Humanity

In Defense of Progress, Liberty, Civilization and Humanity

by Theo Johnson

     My dear reader, I am not hear to tell you what you want to hear, I am hear to speak to you with honesty about obvious truths, so if you are capable of maturity and facing the realities of the world in which we live, please continue reading.  If you wish to act as an ostrich digging its head in the sand, a child hiding within his imagination, then go on with your sales calls, you're sporting events and you're silly celebrity worship. Citizenship shares its duties and responsibilities,  awareness on the events shaping the world is certainly one of them and this is part of the job.  

    Among the contributing factors to the collapse of the Roman Empire was its conversion to Christianity and the abandonment of classic Roman Virtue. One of the contributing factors to the strength and success of Washington was the Enlightenment's rejection of religious superstitions and the study of Ancient Greek and Roman texts to reveal the keys to their success and power. When we consider the future and the world we want for our children, we need to ask ourselves seriously what as a country we are willing to do to defend our way of life? Should we submit to a God that is not our own, be slaves to a morality that serves to weaken our resolve, or should we not stand behind the idea of enlightenment, of freedom, of liberty and fight on our feet. As you reflect and review the history of the world, shy a brief period after the Vietnam war, their has always been war and so why or how can one scientifically conclude there ever won't be war. Even in that period of American peace, the Russians fought in Afghanistan and varying campaigns waged in South America between communist guerrilla groups and right wing paramilitary groups. Radical forms of liberalism became mainstream in the 70s and we moved astray from the underpinning mores and values that had contributed to American Greatness. The liberalism of our forefathers was one of Enlightenment, heavily influenced by Hellenistic Greece and the Delian League and the Roman Republic. Our country was not founded as a Christian nation, it was founded in a Masonic Ceremony and the Democratic Republic formed, was never meant to violate notions of either natural or divine law. There was no mention of capitalism, communism or socialism; rather and idea of a polity and representative forum for free men to discuss and determine the needs of the Republic and with virtue commit themselves to its preservation. The attention was not on negative rights, but positive rights. There was no concept of guarantees, rather an expectation that ideals need be defended and fought for. Western Civilization has long been at war with the Persians of the East, and even in such primitive times, the battle was viewed by the great Greek orators at the Athenian pantheon as a struggle between a people shedding the yoke of mysticism and religion, liberating themselves from the superstitions of religion and a people in the East elevating their leaders to Gods and demanding total submission. The struggle between the East and West has raged long before Jesus, long before Mohammed and has extended along borders far beyond Israel. There has been efforts to make Americans feel guilty for our greatness, our exceptionalism, our victories and our success. The reality, outside the weakness of 70s style liberalism, is that the people of the United States of America are of an industrious nature, breeding the finest warriors and the most advanced military the world has ever known.

     Our failures in Vietnam, were not on the battle field, they were within our own media, using the anecdotes of the Tai Pai masacre and the Tet Offensive to skew the public's perception of the fighting away from one within which we were steadily winning, with victory a simple matter of increasing our pressure on the Ho Chi Min trail serving as the Viet Kong supply line, cutting the supply of weapons and goods from China to break their resolve and will to fight, moving our strategy away from one of retaliatory deterrence of Dulles to one determined to pound our enemy into submission. In Iraq and Afghanistan, our extensive military successes have been questioned for the high cost, but perhaps our biggest mistakes have been in the realism of our ends. Democracy when it works right, is certainly more functional and stable means of government, but it has pre-requisites that the region lacks. Before you can have democracy, you need high rates of literacy, a plurality of parties, notions of religious tolerance and culture where within disputes are solved in the political forum and mitigated by independent courts. Simple voting often leads to the tyranny of the majority, leading the majority to oppress a minority, which is driven in its desperation to violent rebellion, causing civil war. While the idealism of American ends in Iraq and Afghanistan is admirable, if the US is drawn back into Iraq by the aspiring Caliphate of the Levant, then we need to reflect hard on the mistakes of our most recent military engagements, and look back to the great military leaders of history to find the keys to success.

     The United States, is fortunate, it is in a period where it has professional military, experienced in fighting, hardened by numerous tours of duty in the very regions where it is most likely to be called to re-engage. The Military of the United States knows the towns and cities of Anbar province very well, it has known friends and known enemies in the region. With a well educated and athletic public, the United States has the knowledge and experience in the template of current armed forces, that if necessary, can be taught to an expanding military called to duty. We have learned the value of boots on the ground, the lessons of pre-mature departure and the challenges democratizing the Middle East. The Islamists have been given ample opportunities at political power, to participate in democracy, but time and time again their unwillingness to engage pragmatically, to move beyond old wounds and avoid anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism derail and undermine hopes for successful and tolerable Islamic Republics. The United States has made every effort to show that it is not at war with Islam, or Muslims, yet Islam has allowed for too many fatally flawed leaders to scapegoat their own failures on the West and on Israel. Ignorance leads the depraved and uneducated to point to misinterpretations of the Qu'aran to justify the spew of hatred and practice of terror. The West has played the impartial arbitrator, prosecuting its own for unlawful acts of violence, criticizing its partners and allies when human rights abuses were perpetrated and hardheadedly sought to improve the standards of living in the Middle East by providing them democracy, enterprise and modern security forces. George Bush cautioned the Iraqis that the United States could not indefinitely sustain the level of support, that they would need to learn to stand on their own and fight for the freedoms and liberties they value. It was clear, they needed to move beyond ethnic rivalries and form a civic forum that sought compromise and pragmatic discussion. Greed, selfishness, the personal aggrandizement and pride of ethnic and religious leaders, from Sadr to Baghdadi, Khomeni to Al-Malaki, have undermined Iraq's transformation, bringing it to the verge of disintegration. The inability of the Muslim Brotherhood to look beyond the Qu'aran, to listen to the well read and educated leaders of liberalism instrumental to the toppling of the old Autocrats, sealed their fate, unwilling to compromise with the military, the women, the courts and the various minorities, protests continued and the sparseness of food reserves forced the generals to act and remove Morsi from power. The Islamist trouble makers of Libya, used violence to interfere with the democratic process, kidnapping their elected leaders, attempting to intimidate them into compliance with archaic standards and backwards ambitions. Certainly, there are Americans and Jews that have advocated and done wrong in the Middle East, but those examples of wrong cannot be used to skew and justify the whole sale hostility towards these two nations, that have served as valuable partners in the areas where the Muslim world has thrived. A vacation in Dubai, a visit to Doha, a pilgrimage to Mecca and voyage to Riyadh clearly show that a rejection of Islamic radicalism, an embrace of science and trade is the surest means to a higher standard of living, even as faith continues to be an important part of their daily lives.

     The United States and its allies, have no choice but to protect themselves and as Civil War looms in Iraq and nuclear reactors turn in Iran, the United States must ready itself for the worst, while continuing to push for the best. Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, become the more realistic template for success in the Middle East, where tough authoritative regimes responsively manage the profits of oil sales to fund impressive architectural and infrastructure projects, investing heavily in loyal citizens and research institutions capable of unveiling and spreading the knowledge necessary for thriving modern metropolises. Faith continues to exist, but it is removed and separated from the barbarism of terror, and its proponents are dealt with harshly. These countries are not perfect, but they are headed in the right direction for they are countries where like America, merit, enterprise and hard work are rewarded. They have increasingly diversified economies with improving levels of education, healthcare, science and literature to augment a growing understanding of their history, embrace of the cosmopolitan world and vision for their future. Such models, need to become a template for success in Iraq, as well as Afghanistan and while the mediterranean nature of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt provide better promise for democracy, these young polities need to learn to walk before they can learn to run. Literacy rates, religious tolerance, education systems, legal systems and security apparatus need to be established before democracy can truly thrive and outside support must prioritize these developments.

    Strong bonds of community, focused industriousness and agriculture, an emphasis on education, investment in technology and celebration of the sciences have allowed Israel to transform the arid lands of Palestine into the magnificent nation of Israel in a matter of decades. The Palestinians live in squalor because they have continued to wage attacks on their neighbor, promote terror, violence and suicide as political tools, preferring the hand outs of international aid to self-sufficiency and development. They preferred religion to education and chose to dwell on the victimization of the past over the opportunities of today. I have long empathized with the unfortunate realities of the Palestinian predicament, and called foul when the Israelis have violated acceptable norms of defense, but our patience is thinning and the excuses on the part of the Palestinian Authority are running dry.

    Popular conspiracy theories are misguided, the CIA, Mi6 and Moused are not omnipotent forces conniving in conspiracy behind every explosion and armed group, the Quds of Iran and continued influence of Russia share a far larger share of the blame for the flood of AK47s, rockets and IEDs interfering with the democratic process, with a direct role in the development of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Al-Qaeda in Iraq and the arming of Hamas. As a 7 headed dragon whose various heads bite at each other, the monsters Iran has created to fight Israelis and Americans have come to challenge its own client states in Syria and Baghdad. These groups can be reigned in if Iran, and there other private donors from Arabia so chose, and if Irani, Iraqi and Syrian Leaders are willing to make the necessary compromises with the West, Israel and Sunni South, our shared interests can still bring us together to coordinate a response to ISIS in Anbar province and eastern Syria. Such collaboration can serve as faith and trust building measures, mending the drift that has occurred since 9/11. All parties need to responsibly ease our narrow self interest to recognize our collective security concerns. Partitioning our spheres of responsibility while respecting our base line security expectations, may be the surest path to a stable and improving Middle East. While there is no reason to redraw lines in the sand, there is a need to aim for more realistic ends, improve our priorities and provide for more regional autonomy to accommodate deep cultural and ethnic differences.

     The United States of America seeks peace in the Middle East, a mutual respect under God and an improving standard of living for the people everywhere, but let us make no illusion about the fact that the United States of America will protect its populace offensively if necessary. Rights of sovereignty and self-determination are contingent on the destruction of terrorist networks and avoidance of nuclear proliferation. The flow of money and weapons to armed insurgent groups from Nigeria to the Philippines cannot be accommodated and regime survival depends on cooperation around these matters. The United States and our allies has benevolently used our men and treasure to make stalwart efforts to improve the standards of living in the Islamic world, spreading civilized democracy and attempting, admittedly with as many failures as successes, to also guide economic development. If hostile actions continue to be directed against the United States of America and our various regional allies and friends; the United States is not going to respond with the same altruism of the past 13 years; rather our objectives will be moderated to those basic objectives that have long defined military success prior to the misdirected campaigns for Hanoi and Fallujah. If the United States is forced to enter into Syria, Iran or return to Anbar province, our mission will be simple, to defeat the enemy by breaking his will to fight, to disarm him and to destroy his capacity to fight in the future. We call on the free world to recognize the importance of these necessary ends and not allow our sympathies and guilt to allow our children to be made slaves.  For if we are an evolved species in a fight over limited resources than our moral prerogative is to defend those resources for our own and protect them from our enemy. There is a need for coalitions, of course, for allies, and effective management of resources that will provision enough resources for the many. But when our enemies; however, are aggressively seizing control of resources and territory to fund activities to both our and our allies detriment, we need to fight to procure control of those resources and territories from our enemies, entrusting them into the hands of virtue as necessary to preserve the cultures of the magnanimous. While sheep surely fear the eagle that feasts on their lamb, we can not afford to sympathize with the lamb and waste our time training eagles to act as sheep. Our enemy is patient, he does not concern himself with political polls or keep his time according to 24 hour news cycles, he keeps his time in decades with the lessons of history in mind, and to this reality we must adapt if we wish to achieve victory. We need to wise up, stop charging the commodore's flag and instead scythe the commodore.  We cannot pretend that our fight with Terrorism and Islamic radicalism is a simple matter that can be won half-heartedly, with our military at war and our fellow countrymen racking up credit card debt in the practice of consumerism.  Victory depends on us coming together as a country, overcoming both corruption and internal weakness, putting aside our differences and understanding that our struggle for survival depends on our collaboration and team work, our united efforts and common ties as countrymen and a people, determined to stand with resolve and mobilize for success. There is still hope for peace, something we must pray for, but I must responsibly caution that the July 21st deadline is on the horizon and fast approaching.  We must therefore, prepare for war.  ISIS alters our calculus, provides a common foe that may bring regional rivals together, perhaps averting a larger war by providing the impetus for collaboration and compromise, but America will hold its line on Iran's nuclear program and not take any options off the table in its dealings with either Iraq, Syria or Iran. We call on our allies and partners to hold the same position and stand with us in defense of progress, liberty, civilization and humanity as we give diplomacy every opportunity to work and avert an escalation of military operations.