Ruminating about these facts and reading The End of America, I thought about the following, which elicited cognitive dissonance:
“A patriot must be ready to defend his/her country against his/her government” (Edward Abbey).
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable” (John F. Kennedy).
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism” (Howard Zinn).
“A dictatorship would be a lot easier. And without revealing the operating details of our (domestic spying) program, I just want to assure the American people that, one, I’ve got the authority to do this; two, it is a necessary part of my job to protect you; and three, we’re guarding your civil liberties” (George W. Bush, White House press conference, Dec. 19, 2005).
“People need to watch what they say, watch what they do” (Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, 2001).
“Liberty, once lost, is lost forever” (John Adams, 1775).
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it” (Adolf Hitler).
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and student usurpations” (James Madison, father of the Constitution, 1738).
“You can’t have 100 percent security and then also have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience” (President Barack Obama).
Conclusion: “As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such a twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air—however slight—lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness” (Justice William O. Douglas).
David A. Hancock
Chesterland
A City Says No to Drones
On February 4, the city of Charlottesville became the first in the country to pass a resolution against the domestic use of drones. “The rapid implementation of drone technology throughout the United States poses a serious threat to the privacy and constitutional rights of the American people,” the resolution states, calling for a two-year moratorium on drone technology. It also calls for “Congress and the general Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia to adopt legislation prohibiting information obtained from the domestic use of drones from being introduced into a Federal or State court, and precluding domestic use of drones equipped with antipersonnel devices, meaning any projectile, chemical, electrical, directed-energy (visible or invisible), or other device designed to harm, incapacitate, or otherwise negatively impact a human being.”
As antiwar activist David Swanson points out, “The same City Council passed a resolution on January 17, 2012, calling for an end to drone wars, as well as ground wars, excessive military spending and any possible attack on Iran.”**
David A. Hancock
Chesterland
Of Religion and War
Mark Twain spent the last ten years of his life fighting against the US occupation of the Philippines as a member of the Anti-Imperialist League. It was during this time that he wrote some of his angriest essays, including To the Person Sitting in Darkness and The War Prayer. He was criticized for having lost his sense of humor.
The War Prayer was a biting satire written around 1905 during the US war in the Philippines. Twain was disgusted with the patriotic and religious fervor that motivated support for the war.
On a Sunday morning in a church filled with the faithful, the preacher prayed that God would bless the young soldiers, keep them strong in battle, encourage them in their patriotic work, and help them smite their foe.
Then an aged stranger, Twain, dressed in white robes, walked up to the preacher’s side and spoke to the congregation. He explained that he was a messenger from God. “You have heard your servant’s prayer—the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it—that part which the pastor—and also you in your hearts—fervently prayed, silently. Listen!”
The War Prayer by Mark Twain
O Lord our father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle—be thou near them. With them—in spirit—we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells, help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead, help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out rootless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of the desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun, flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it—for our sakes who adore thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears; stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of him who is the source of love, and who is the ever faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek his aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
Mark Twain may still agree with what he said years earlier, “Nothing fails like prayer” (except The War Prayer) and “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
He would probably agree with the sayings, “Religions are cults with more members” and “As my ancestors are free from slavery, I am free from the slavery of religion” (Butterfly McQueen).
He would probably join Freedom From Religion Foundation.
He would be singing the lyrics to “Give Peace a Chance” by John Lennon.
“May we never see another war. For in my opinion there never was a good war or a bad peace”(Ben Franklin, 1783).
Read; War is a lie.
by David Swanson
David
