Distinguishing between a people and their government

reprinted from May 20,2005

I recently had a very brief conversation with a young Scotsman, who was eager to tell me that he had just come from Iraq, was returning there, and that, regardless of what we hear, our soldiers are doing a terrific job there. His point was clearly that we should be proud of our military in Iraq. I wish we could have talked longer, but his point focused on the crux of the chasm that splits our people on the War in Iraq. Like so many Americans, his view is that once involved, the reasons for involvement disappear, and our concerns must shift to only supporting the young people doing what our nation has sent them there to do. Our doubts must be submerged... accept the situation and support our people.

There is much validity to the young Scot's point. Once our military has been committed, they deserve our support. They are OUR people, our youth, our children, brothers, sisters, and even parents; doing an ugly job we've sent them there to do. We DO have an enormous responsibility to those young people. Dig inside any American who has someone they care about in combat and you're likely to find a non-stop dread that tragic news can arrive at any moment.

In wartime, we are asked to join together in supporting the action taking place. In effect, we are expected to eliminate judgment and simply become loyal subjects of our nation. Those who refuse to stop protesting the action itself are often labeled as unpatriotic, even traitors... by those who DO fall into line. We are encouraged by politicians to fall into line, and they, with very few exceptions, do so too. This falling-into-line has become so prevalent that our President no longer even bothers with the Constitutional requirement of asking Congress to declare war.

We are left with the absurd proposition that an American President can send troops anywhere, for any reason (or none) and get away with it. Congress will fund the action, unquestioningly, and a majority of the people will shut down their minds and become lock-step "loyalists", not only "supporting our troops" but transferring that to "supporting our President".

I put this to you, as a means of evaluating YOUR position on this issue: Is there ANY military action our President could take that you wouldn't just accept? Is there any action that would cause you to rise up and resist?

I've been accused of using the Nazi comparison too often, but I'm going to violate your sensibilities once again. I remember WWII, and I have had a serious fascination with it ever since... a drive to try to understand how such a disastrous period could have taken place. How could the German people have allowed the blatant aggression of Hitler against their "next-door" neighbors? How could the German people have allowed the atrocities? Being largely of German descent, the question is not hypothetical to me. Many of the dreaded German soldiers were no doubt distant cousins of mine. Some might have been Nazis, perhaps even SS. How different from me could they have been? If one or two of my ancestors hadn't migrated, what role might I have found myself in? Was there any way Hitler could have been prevented... or stopped, once it became more clear what his aim was?

By the time Hitler attacked Poland, it was already too late for the German people to have stopped him. He was a master at accumulating power and controlling it, and equally skillful at either convincing others that he was a savior or that he was a master to be disobeyed only at great personal risk. Individual Germans could comply in order to share in his grandiose aims, or they could comply to avoid the hell he could create.

One of my earliest memories of WWII in America was understanding that one just did NOT fail to support the war effort. Even to a small child, that was clear. Perhaps I was lectured, for children are apt to ask questions that adults may not want others to hear. Blind loyalty was virtually mandatory. We planted Victory gardens, contributed metal toys and utensils for the war effort, and limited purchases to what was rationed to us. FDR's propaganda effort was widespread and omnipresent, and one's loyalty was always subject to question. Understand that all this took place in a nation whose people had been decidedly anti-war and whose President had adamantly promised not to send our sons into combat.

In retrospect, there is not so much difference between the American people and the German people of the early 40's. Both were little more than loyal pawns in the hands of their leaders. The American entrance as an ally in Europe was a reversal as great as the German people finding themselves as the aggressors (again) in a widespread war. Both populations were dragged into conflict, almost without realizing it. When it was all over, more than 50 million people were dead, many nations were in shambles, and very few humans had escaped untouched.

If one considers that we had, only 20-some years earlier, lived through a very similar world war, again with an anti-war populace and a President who swore we would not get involved, with a resulting 15 million dead, it is impossible not to ask "how in hell did we let this happen again?"

We are regularly told by our government that we and our government are virtually the same thing... that someone who attacks or criticizes our government is attacking our people and our "way of life". Our politicians love to talk about WE, and US, attempting to instill the idea that every action they take is in our national interest and that we, the people, must stand behind those actions if we are to survive as a nation. They would have us believe that WE and our government are synonymous, and that to believe otherwise is to be disloyal to our nation.

Those are lies, and we must REJECT those lies.

We, the people of the U.S., are very different from our government. Even the people of Middle Eastern nations who have been treated so badly by our government do not believe that the American people are evil. Despite all, they understand the distinction between us and our government. Would that WE understood that distinction so clearly.

In America, we pretend that we have control of our government because we vote every couple of years, but the truth is that we are forced to choose between captive candidates of only two parties, neither of which demonstrates any desire to limit the power and size of government. So, our government continues to grow, invade more aspects of our individual lives, tap our economic strength, and exercise military aggressiveness over other nations.

There is nothing unusual about governments becoming power-hungry and corrupt over time. Unfortunately, what is unusual is a citizenry with the will and determination to keep their government from getting out of control. Our government has already reached a point where it is difficult to project even stopping its growth, much less reducing it. We find ourselves party to a horribly destructive war that our government waged in our name... a war that was justified on lies, that has cost over 1600 American deaths, 12,000 injuries, and unknown tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Even though most Americans now believe that war was a mistake, our government seems bent on extending it to other nations.

It seems clear to me that unless a majority of Americans get seriously involved in monitoring and changing our government, and do so soon, that we can look forward to much future grief, both at home and around the world. Our government continues to alienate more of our neighbors and increase control over us as well. These are clear signs of a government moving toward totalitarian control.

Will we, like so many other peoples before us, just ignore what our government is doing until we no longer have any choice? Will we continue to busy ourselves with increasing our already plentiful wealth as our remaining freedoms disappear? As I watch my fellow citizens, I have great difficulty remaining optimistic. As we concern ourselves with trivialities, our political control steadily reduces. I'm not very concerned about what will occur in my remaining years, but I am thoroughly disgusted at the context my children and grandchildren are inheriting from me and my generation. Our nation began with a truly inspired foundation, but we have failed in our responsibilities as free citizens. It's possible that it is too late for us to recover, but it is NOT too late for us to make the effort. If we fail to do so, we deserve whatever result we get.