Everybody passes the buck
POSTED BY: Malbadinlatin
UPDATED: Thursday, February 8, 2007 13:48
VIEWED: 6534
PAGE 3 of 6
I will ask this one kindness - if one should recognize this editorial, it's source, or the penname it was written under, speak not of it, please.
This one was written in mid-late november 2001, if I recall correctly.
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Return of "The Fear."
It doesn't take much effort, for those with long memories watching the events that have unfolded since Sept 11th, to feel the rise of an unquiet spirit, apparently back from the grave to haunt us once again.
Being that this is the Christmas season, lets view this in a format more appropriate for the holidays, say....from the viewpoint of ole Ebeneezer Scrooge....
THE GHOST OF McCARTHY PAST.
Most of you have little, if any idea who Senator Joe McCarthy was, but as those who do not remember history are eternally doomed to repeat it....you'd best be finding out.
"Tailgunner Joe" as he was known, was a nearly fanatical man, rising to power in a way all too common in history....pick an enemy, doesn't matter what it is, just pick one, and inflame everyone against them - then ride to power on the tide of the manipulated mob, it worked for Hitler, right?
The target picked by McCarthy back in the 50's was the "Red Scare" - Communism, a belief that history has since shown us isn't really even effective, but it was useful as a bludgeon to keep he and his cronies in power.
Even worse was the dread accusation "Un-American Activities"......enough fervor for this term was generated that the House of Representatives formed HUAC - the House Un-American Activities Committee.
HUAC and it's originators then set to performing a modern-day crusade, inquisition included. Federal Agencies, whom before were limited in power and mandated to obey the law, were given free reign within our borders, enforcing the will of the men in Washington, regardless of the Constitutional rights of those set upon by them, framing, planting evidence, rigged trials, all manner of chicanery was allowed them. A heavy price was paid by many; in fact, these agencies went so far rogue that new laws had to be created just to regain and maintain control of them, and their names would be forever blackened by those who remember just how low they could stoop.
The trial of Alger Hiss was a classic example; it no longer mattered if one was innocent or guilty, the mere presumption of guilt demanded a conviction - at any cost.
Soon to follow were the infamous "Hollywood Ten", a group of individuals in the film industry who dared exercise their Constitutional rights in the courtroom. They were summarily cited for Contempt, and thrown to the wolves.
The McCarran Immigration and Nationality Act was passed - a nightmare of red tape and restrictions on entering, or visiting the "Land of the Free". It was blasted by a 1953 letter relative to the issue.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/lehsuite/lehman_mccarthy/Creepin
g_McCarthyism.html
Blacklisting and Greylisting became commonplace. "Loyalty Oaths" were demanded.
It became a witch-hunt, a hysteria, where the only safe place to be was on the delivery end of the accusation, rather than the business end. Countless numbers of otherwise decent American folks were caught up in this whirlwind.
It was a great relief to the nation and it's people when McCarthy was blisteringly censured, and an even greater one when he expired, convinced even on his deathbed that the supposed "Communists" he saw behind every tree, under every rock - were out to get him.
One of his main co-conspirators, Richard Nixon, later achieved the office of the Presidency, only to disgrace it by using the same tactics that fed HUAC in his campaign for office, and being caught in the doing.
At last the tide was turning.
The end result was 20 years of fear and loathing, of ourselves, and each other. It wasn't till 1960 that people again felt comfortable to even mildly dissent from the official "party line". Even then, due to COINTELPRO, "The Fear" was still there.
THE GHOST
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Bravo, excellent AND a good history lesson to the newbies (peeps under 40)!
It's been a long time for me, but I'll bet they don't teach ANYTHING about McCarthy-ism in school...I know that's not where I learned about it.
I love PBS Chrisisall
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Frem,
Your trestise on the past (and potential) future and McCarthism is woefully prophetic.
My father fought in WWII in the South Pacific. He was with that group of Marines on Iwo Jima (not one of the ones in the pictures). I remember hearing how when he returned home after the war, he was involved in starting the first WFW post in our town. Later they asked him to sign a loyalty oath. He told them to "go to hell if you're questioning my loyality" walked out and never went back.
Today I work as a therapist in a rural community mental health clinic. Our former medical director is a Japanese American. He and his family were put in one of the encampments during WWII when he was a child. He worried that they might start rounding up folks of middle eastern descent and put them in camps. A friend and peer is half-Lebanese, she expressed concern that they might put her and her sisters into a camp.
Some people remember but not enough. Thanks for the reminder. If we forget, it could happen again. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...
Siri
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Quote:Yes, I was referring specifically with what we do now, not what we did then, but even still, Fallujah or not, Iraq is better off now then it was under Hussein. However, if we leave too early, and the government falls, that could change.
Originally posted by chrisisall:
He'll correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Finn means from this point foward it would be better.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Quote:Finn, I know Saddam was a monster, but are more peeps better off now, I mean, calculating the dead, wounded and dying in Iraq (excluding non-Iraquis), was this way worth it? Was there no other way to oust Saddam, assuming it had to be done when it was? Was there no way to blast him in a palace somewhere, and do some fuel-air explosions to sway unruly gun-toating peeps that would try to gain dictatorhood?
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
Fallujah or not, Iraq is better off now then it was under Hussein.
Not bein' silly here (least, not on purpose
), I just don't see why boots on the ground was the only answer when we can remove oxygen from the air for a quarter mile....?And back to the first question, isn't it better to be alive in an oppressive regime, than dead, period? I mean with all the thousands of Iraquis that died in this, numerically, you still think it's all worth it? Would these thousands have died anyway due to Saddam himself sooner or later?
Chrisisall
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Quote:You mean do we have the ability to lay enough waste to Iraq to get rid of Hussein? Yes. I would think so. But I don’t think it would have swayed the unruly gun-toting peeps (I’m not sure that’s a military term.
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Finn, I know Saddam was a monster, but are more peeps better off now, I mean, calculating the dead, wounded and dying in Iraq (excluding non-Iraquis), was this way worth it? Was there no other way to oust Saddam, assuming it had to be done when it was? Was there no way to blast him in a palace somewhere, and do some fuel-air explosions to sway unruly gun-toating peeps that would try to gain dictatorhood?
) But I also think that it would have taken more force then we would have wanted to use or should use. And getting rid of Hussein wasn’t the only reason; there was also the WMD issue. The fear was that removing Hussein alone would not have solved that problem without a Western presents to control the rebuilding. Quote:Without a doubt thousands, even millions, died under Saddam Hussein. I don’t think that Iraq is necessarily worse in that regard. And also there is the issue that Hussein had no intent of changing things. Left up to him and his sons, that oppressive regime would have lasted indefinitely. But today, there are real elections in Iraq, and if that can be maintained and most importantly instilled in the Iraqis then, in the long run, Iraq will be much better.
Originally posted by chrisisall:
And back to the first question, isn't it better to be alive in an oppressive regime, than dead, period? I mean with all the thousands of Iraquis that died in this, numerically, you still think it's all worth it? Would these thousands have died anyway due to Saddam himself sooner or later?
As for the question of whether it was worth it. That’s somewhat subject, but I would have to say it depends on how it ends. There’s no doubt that things didn’t go our way. We didn’t find the WMDs we thought were there and we misjudged the Iranian factor. Those are pretty big mistakes that both Washington and London failed to account for. Now the Iraq-Al Qaeda connection was real (despite what you hear) but if Iraq had no WMDs to hand off to Al Qaeda, then that issue is left somewhat muted. The pointless UN Resolution was the biggest mistake. Iraq should have been dealt with by the UN, but the UNSC failed miserably to provide enough incentive for Hussein to follow the UN’s resolutions. There should never have been 17 Chapter Seven Resolution on the same issue in a row against the same country with no declaration of war. So was it worth it? I can think of many ways I would have preferred to see this handled, but if Iraq can be left with at least some kind of stable democracy then I think it will be worth it, mistakes and all.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Quote:Yeah, good luck with that.
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
...but if Iraq can be left with at least some kind of stable democracy...
The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.
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Quote:A combo of fabrication, wishful thinking and specific inept-ness, I didn't buy into it for a moment, then or now.
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
And getting rid of Hussein wasn’t the only reason; there was also the WMD issue.
Regardless, thank for the answer, Finn. But I just don't see a stable anything in Iraq's immediate future...maybe in ten years or so...?
Unruly gun-less peep Chrisisall
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The scary part is what I see when I look forward now, regardless of whether we get into it with Iran or not.
Dissenters and Protesters dissappeared, renditioned or hauled off to gitmo.
Americans bombing, and eventually carbombing, the megacorps that have taken over almost every aspect of life here.
And as more time passes...
Several abortive secession attempts, followed by a second civil war.
It can happen, it WILL happen, unless enough folk put the brakes on it, I've seen a lot of this crap coming since 1982 and have put a lot of effort into trying to derail a train wreck that's gonna end with Americans using a nuke....
On other Americans.
And that's if the rest of the planet doesn't finally get sick of imperial aggression and band together to wipe us off the map first.
There's still time, but we have a madman at the throttle, and the rest of the asylum shovelling coal... and that light at the end of the tunnel they keep tellin us about is an oncoming train.
-Frem
It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it
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Quote:"That's gloomy." -Once More With Feeling
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
a train wreck that's gonna end with Americans using a nuke....
On other Americans.
"Look, let's just make sure it doesn't come to that." -Aliens
Chrisisall
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