Endless Leftism: A Recipe for Professorial Ignorance

Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor at Boston University, has published an article in the Washington Post entitled Endless War: A Recipe for Four Star Arrogance. In it he claims that, due to the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the professional U.S. military poses a dire threat to our constitutional form of government. I invite you to read the full article at the following web address: http://tinyurl.com/26fefea.

As a military veteran I too agree with Sun Tzu's dictum that "there has never been a state which has benefited from a prolonged war." I pray that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will both come to a close that favors the interests of the United States as soon as possible. However, I find the crux of the professor's article ludicrous. The idea that the professional U.S. military poses a threat to our Constitution is ridiculous on the face of it. In general, U.S. military service men and women take their oath to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic' very seriously. The people who pose the threat to our constitution are the civilian politicians and bureaucrats who are bent on persuading the electorate that they can vote themselves prosperity and security at somebody else's expense.

Professor Bacevich bases his assertions on the recently exposed statements of General McChrystal and his staff to journalists from Rolling Stone Magazine. He makes much of the fact that McChrystal and his staff express pointed dissatisfaction with their civilian counterparts and leadership and even question their competence and fitness to lead. Professor Bacevich apparently believes that military professionals should be like automatons, neither thinking nor expressing anything critical of their civilian leaders. I have news for the good professor: The idea that professional soldiers of any rank revere and actually respect their militarily incompetent civilian leadership is laughable.

The majority of military personnel serving the the United States of America are smarter than the majority of civilians they protect. This has been demonstrated over and over again. Not only that, but on the whole, military people tend to be more honorable, honest, and trustworthy than the civilians they protect. If one is talking about politicians, then virtually all military personnel are more honest, honorable, and trustworthy than any politician, including the President.

Military personnel obey civilian authority because they love their country, they revere the constitution, and that is the way it must be for our nation to preserve it's heritage of freedom. They do not do it because they admire and respect the civilian authorities; they do it because under our constitution it is their duty to do so regardless of what they think of them.

The fundamental views foolishly voiced to reporters by "Team America" are not wrong, just shared with the wrong people. McChrystal and his team were stupid to say such things to anyone but trusted comrades, and incredibly so to say them to the one group of people who have even less honor than politicians and lawyers: Journalists.

Those are my thoughts; what are yours?

Securing Borders and Reforming Immigration

Samuel Clemens once said words to the effect that “everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” The same could be said of illegal immigration and immigration reform in the United States right now. Everyone realizes that there is a major problem, but seems unable to do anything but talk about it. “How can this be,” you ask? “Is there no congress to correct the laws?” “And the Border Patrol? Is it still in operation?” The answer to both is yes, but congress is afraid to move on the issue, and the Border Patrol is understaffed, underfunded, overworked, and patrolling an indefensible border.

Why is congress afraid? Simply because illegal aliens vote, illegally of course, but they do vote, and in some places may even be a majority of the electorate. In particular, the Democrat party caters to the illegal immigrants, particularly illegals from Mexico and Central America. Activists aligned with the Democrat party subvert and openly violate United States laws on a routine basis to aid and shelter illegal immigrants. Politicians from areas with large ‘Hispanic’ populations face tremendous opposition if they support sealing the border. As far as immigration reform goes, if they advocate anything less than full amnesty for the illegals they face the same implacable opposition. It is no mystery, then, why members of congress elected from such areas are usually Democrats who are dedicated to staying on the good side of their illegal constituencies, regardless of harm to the nation as a whole.

“Horatius,” you ask, “What can we do?” First, elect more Conservatives and practically minded libertarians to all offices of government; until then nothing useful will be done. Then, demand that the borders, particularly our southern border, be secured, from sea to shining sea, across prairie, desert, mountain, and swamp. And not with a pathetic metal mesh fence, but with a real high security buffer zone, complete with multiple fences, a wall of no less than 50 feet in height, raked sand zones, electronic sensors and a dedicated, 24 hour-a-day guard force. “My God,” you say, “That will be expensive.” True, but think about this: How valuable is it to you to live in a stable, prosperous, secure nation?

“But, Horatius, what of the illegal immigrants already here?” First of all, I do not like the term ‘illegal immigrants.’ The word immigrant lends an air of respectability to what they have done. They did not immigrate to our country legally, so they are not immigrants, but trespassers, international trespassers. However, we must keep in mind that most of these international trespassers have come here to enjoy the fruits of American greatness: good jobs with good pay, good roads, water that is safe to drink right out of the tap, and the like. Most of them are, with the exception of their trespassing, law abiding people.

It is a thorny problem we face. Here are the things I would do, in this order, if I had my way:

1. Secure the border.
2. Issue ‘smart’ national identity cards for all citizens and legally residing aliens and make presentation of them mandatory for all employment and any kind of service at any federal, state, or local government office or bank.
3. Amend the Constitution of the United States so that the children of international trespassers do not become U.S. citizens simply because they are born on U.S. soil, but retain the nationality of the trespassing parent(s).
4. Make international trespassing in the United States a felony, with immediate deportation the punishment.
5. Offer all international trespassers who are employed, not on government assistance, and who have no criminal record a chance to get a ‘green card,’ but never citizenship, IF they pay all back taxes (if any), refund all money ever obtained under welfare or any other U.S. Government or State program (if any), and then pay a fine equivalent to 5% of everything they have earned in the United States prior to accepting this opportunity. Upon accepting this offer they would be issued a special visa, not a ‘green card,’ allowing them to live and work in the U.S.A. on probationary status until they had met all the above requirements for obtaining a full green card. One misdemeanor conviction during this probationary period would result in immediate deportation without appeal. The minor children of such probationers would be eligible to apply for naturalized citizenship only upon the successful completion of their parents’ probation, and the most the former international trespassers themselves would ever get is a standard ‘green card;’ they could never become citizens.
6. Immediately deport all international trespassers who do not agree to the above conditions, are unemployed, on public assistance, or who have any criminal records whatsoever.

There you have my thoughts on the subject. What are yours?

Living in Interesting Times

“May you live in interesting times.”  Whether that famous saying really is an ancient Chinese curse is questionable, but there is no question at all that it is our curse right now to be living in interesting times.  We are engaged in two wars overseas (one supposedly winding down, the other still in full swing), we have a massive oil spill threatening ecological devastation on our southern coast, we are mired in a recession so deep that many reputable economists are predicting its descent into a full-blown depression next year (as I write this the actual national unemployment rate is hovering around 17%), and the nation’s citizenry is more sharply divided along political/philosophical lines than at any time since the Civil War.

While wars, ecological disasters, recessions, and depressions make the times more interesting, they are not new, no matter how terrible they may be.  What is new (and therefore the most interesting) is the extreme political polarization of the nation’s population right now.  This political polarization is strongly affecting the debates about the wars, the oil spill, and the economy.  Many in Washington, D.C. think that this is a bad thing, that we must work together, “reach across the aisle,” and compromise in order to pass new laws and move on to a more collegial future.  They call the Republicans “The Party of No.”  People who say this, or even think this are all, without exception, left-wing progressives/liberals.  They do not want other people to have individual liberty because with liberty comes risk; people who have liberty may do harm with that liberty.  They want government to greatly limit individual liberty and thereby the harm that might be done by those exercising that liberty.  Those of the left are more afraid of their fellow citizens than they are of the government.  They forget that every character flaw, every vice that is present in the person who owns the local restaurant or runs the giant corporation is present in the politician and the bureaucrat.  They also forget that the politician and bureaucrat have much more power to do far greater harm than the grocer or even the corporate chieftain could ever dream of.  The bottom line is that leftist liberals/progressives are frightened creatures so desperate for protection from their peers that, in order to get it, they are willing to sacrifice everyone else’s life, liberty, and property on the altar of big government, despite history’s numerous cautionary tales against doing so.

“But, Horatius,” you may be thinking, “there’s nothing new there.  The left has always despised and feared individual liberty, and celebrated and cherished authoritarian, collectivist government.  Why do you think they all wear Che Guevara T-shirts?”  True, that part is not new.  However, what is new (in our nation at least) is the source of the polarization: the grass-roots political activism on the right that is quite assertively pushing back against the left-wing agenda.  Keli Carender, Rick Santelli, and Glen Beck have sparked a never-before-seen level of protest from the people who Spiro Agnew branded as "the silent majority.”  Well, they are silent no more; across the country, from town hall meetings to giant rallies in the nation's Capital, they have expressed their complete opposition to further expansion of federal government power.  Whether or not this will continue past the present election cycle is unforeseeable, however, for the present it is a force to be reckoned with.  Regardless of the left’s attempts to make an issue of Rep. Joe Barton’s politically stupid comments about BP, this November’s elections will wreak havoc with the left’s plans to ram even more coercive, liberty stealing, authoritarian, collectivist laws down the throats of the American people.  It is vital that we who value freedom more than security continue this fight for as long as the left tries to strip us of our inherent rights and liberties, and that means forever.