Posted by Dan Ewert : 4/18/2002 12:59:00 AM (Archive Link)
I occasionally find myself interested in what the other side (that being the left) is thinking, so I’ll visit thenation.com and read a couple of articles. I usually expect to be appalled and I’m rarely disappointed. An article I just read recently, however, certainly beats the rest. The piece in question is called “Peace and Nuclear Disarmament: A Call to Action” and it’s written by a Democratic congressman from Ohio named Dennis Kucinich. Take a moment to read the article (try and make it all the way through) and then we’ll get started.

What I find truly remarkable about this work is how it resides so far outside of reality. Repeatedly, Rep. Kucinich speaks of how man must connect with his inner peace to bring about world peace, or we must realize that all humanity is connected and thereby achieve peace, or if we work for peace in our country then it will be so and will spread throughout the world and there will be peace for all. He uses peace as if it’s a magic word that when you say it, it will be so. Like most liberal writing I read, he’s long on utopia, short on practicality. The closest he comes to action is to demand that “our nation and all nations” basically stop developing, aiming, and producing nuclear weapons, start dismantling nuclear weapons and go back in on the ABM treaty. Since this was the only useful thing he managed to say in 2,600 words of rhetorical fluff (although it’s admittedly well done rhetorical fluff and I at least have to admire his poetic writing style), I’ll dwell on it for a moment.

Rep. Kucinich is obviously very concerned about peace. His solution is the elimination of all nuclear weapons. However, this flies in the face of empirical evidence. For fifty years, our nuclear weapons have been a deterrent to those who would surely have attacked us. The Soviets were not a moral equivalent to us as Rep. Kucinich indicates nor was communism a mere hobgoblin as George McGovern says. It was and is a very real threat to the values we hold dear and thrives and expands by conquering through force. In a world that holds many more insidious and more secretive threats to our safety, we can hardly afford to take one our most powerful options and tuck it in our pocket because of the damage it can incur. That very damage is itself a dissuasion to potential attackers… especially those who are developing their own weapons of mass destruction and I guarantee you they won’t take the time to do serious soul-searching on the matter.

What Rep. Kucinich fails to understand is that America can avail itself of peace, sit down at the fire, and invite the whole world to come have a coke and sing kum bay ya, but most will not come. Some will come and join in our high-minded idealness. Others will be Jason lurking in the woods and will slaughter us because we have failed to defend ourselves. The reality is that there are people and countries in the world who do not like us for whatever reason. You may say its jealousy of our wealth and success, you may say its because they don’t share our ideologies, you may say its their own thirst for power, you may even go the liberal route and say its because of poverty and colonialism. Whatever it is, no amount of placating or concessions or money or peace-speak will eliminate their hatred of America. We are only reasonably safe from these people because they fear us. The very instant we let down our guard and show ourselves to be complacent or weak, we will be attacked. War will never be “archaic” because somebody will always be reinventing it and making it new again. Don’t get me wrong, in a perfect world, we would be at peace with everybody, the world’s population would share a decent standard of living and happiness would reign. I like that because it’s a good thing… it’s nice. However, that is not the case and it will never be the case. You may wish it and you may work at it, but evil in the world will still remain because there are evil people causing it. If America becomes a sheep, the wolves will rip it to shreds. Far better to be a lion among the wolves.

What amazes me is how may people seem to consider the values, freedoms, and rights of this country as not worth fighting for. It is through war that these things were purchased and we have repaid the price time and time again. The peace we enjoy on our secluded continent and that we have enjoyed for 140 years was through war. No country has a fundamental right to exist and thrive, it must fight to establish and maintain itself. And I can think of few things more worth fighting and dying for than this nation. For it only through its tenuous and yet mighty existence that any of us have any hope and have any peace. There is always something worth dying for. If you don’t feel that way, then you have put your own arrogant existence above all else and have declared yourself more important than everything and everybody. And through that declaration, you have proven yourself to be the most pitiful and pathetic of humans.

That seems like a good place to end this but there are still a few more points I would like to hit on.

Rep. Kucinich declares that current government policy and actions “are occurring without the consent of the American people, without public debate, without public hearings, without public votes.”

I am of the opinion that the people have given their implicit consent for whatever policies exist at a given time because they have elected those who form the policies. These people were chosen to proportionately reflect the desires of the public. If at any given time, government policy veers away from public policy, the electorate will happily vote in people who more closely share and represent their views. That’s a democratic republic in action.

It is not the government’s responsibility to foster public debate. That is the responsibility of those who oppose the government’s actions. When you are the one who has the complaint, you can’t just sit around huffing that nobody is complaining. You must be the one to speak up and make others listen. If others choose not to listen, then they obviously disagree with you. If there is a lack of public debate on these issues, it’s not because the opposition isn’t trying, it’s because the public doesn’t agree with the opposition and through their silence, they have given consent to government action.

Public hearings fall into the same category as public debates. It is the responsibility of the opposition.

Public votes… since when has there ever been a national referendum to determine national policy? Again, this has been expressed through your elected officials. Because the public at large doesn’t and is unable to vote on every issue and every bill that comes along, we depend on those who represent us to also represent our views. If they are not doing so, vote for somebody who will. That wacky democratic republic again doing what it’s made to do.

In short, what I’m driving at is that consent has obviously been granted to the government. If this were not so, we would be hearing mighty uproars across the country. Silence is consent and you have given consent through those you have elected.

Now some might say that the silence is not by choice, it has been imposed on the public. We don’t dare to say things out loud against President Bush because somebody might call us naughty, naysay us, and vigorously criticize us. Thank goodness there’s Dennis Kucinich who has the courage to speak out in a freedom-loving republic that maintains free speech as one of its highest ideals and prohibits any prevention thereof. How brave. Ask the dissenters who suffered in Soviet gulags what bravery is. Ask the dissenters who now suffer in the Middle East what bravery is. Ask the dissenters who are imprisoned in Cuba what bravery is. Ask the Palestinian dissenters in the West Bank what bravery is. Unfortunately, you can’t ask most of these people about bravery because a good many of them are dead. They were killed by states that were truly totalitarian. America is not this and will never be this despite the apocalyptic scenarios people may paint. It’s time we separated criticism from censorship. On the one hand you are told you are wrong and you shouldn’t say something. On the other is you are told you are wrong and you are unable to say it. Are liberals often criticized? Yes. Are they often told they’re wrong? Yes. Are they prevented from speaking their minds? No. Others and I may vehemently oppose you and criticize you but will never tell you can’t say what you want. There will never be men with sunglasses waiting to whisk Rep. Kucinich away for interrogation after a speech. There will never be government agents pulling him into a dark alley and beating him or worse. This is what happens to the opposition in countries that so many declare morally and culturally equal to our own and those dissenters show courage I can’t imagine. Rep. Kucinich is merely exercising his rights and has nothing to fear but negative editorials. Learn what real censorship is and what real totalitarianism is. You’ll be embarrassed you ever thought it of America.

So in conclusion, I think Rep. Kucinich is wrong. I also think he manages to say very little while still speaking at length. I also dearly hope he keeps saying what he wants so that I may respond and we will all speak our minds.