Us Versus Them

With the Obama Administration reaching into the intelligence community and pulling out images and documents in an effort to attack not terrorist acts (or man caused disasters), nor to fight the war on terror (or  Overseas Contingency Operations), but to attack the previous administration and attempt to smear their efforts.

Let us understand one thing without any lack in clarity:  If someone or some group wants to kill you you must take them at their word and kill them first.    If you are entrusted with the care and responsibility to protect someone or some group of people and they are targets to die, then you once again must take the aggressors at their words and kill them first.   If you can not accept this responsibility or feel that taking lesser steps is a worthy endeavor then you are not fit to have the responsibility.

The current administration wants the world to think that it is so nuanced and sensitive to the ways of the world — unlike that last administration — that if we all sit down and talk about it we can find some common ground.  ‘It’ can be anything from nuclear weaponry to soothing the troubled minds of those who wish to destroy our society, culture, and country.  This administration is as foolish as it is bold.

What the administration fails to understand, or decides to ignore, is that there is a cultural element to their actions.  Those who want us eliminated are not doing it because we looked at them sideways, it is because they do not like us at the very core of our being.   This can not be changed by talking, hand shakes, and smiles.   Our culture and by commercialism, our products, end up heading into their culture and this is something many of them will not tolerate.  Let us look at this from the perspective of a moderate, yet relatively conservative member of their society.   We’ll use Afghanistan as the backdrop, though several other nations / cultures could apply, but since that is where al-Qaida found friends in the Taliban, it works well for this example.

So we have a moderate, yet relatively conservative member of any of the various groups in Afghanistan who sees Western culture and particularity American culture seeping into his society.   He sees the blue jeans, T-Shirts, baseball caps, and other non-traditional clothing and accessories coming in and being worn by children, teens, and young adults.  He looks around and also hears American music – loud and noisy to him – and American mannerisms making their their way into the streets and worse yet, homes of all these people.   He sees Hollywood in American movies with all the sex and drugs, the way women are portrayed, the way men are portrayed, and it is disturbing to him. He sees that this own values and beliefs are being marginalized by his own society and his own people.  The same lack of respects for elders and strangers, and even family members he sees in American culture is now beginning to stick in Afghanistan and it is far too much to take.

For the sake of understanding, let us reverse the situation for Western societies and Western culture.  In the midst of our lives a different culture’s elements seeping into our lives without warning or understanding.   Movies, horrible musicals, are on the big screen with women and men all wearing clothing foreign to us, and behaving far too politely for common conversation where asking how one is doing and how one’s family is doing actually is a question where the response matters — unlike here where answering, “How are you?” is practically asking for a place on the shrinks couch, because most people do not care.  In this other culture, if you do not respond honestly, and ask the same in return you are now looked upon as some sort of rude, uncivilized, non-caring cur who is unfit for further conversation.

This affects the way we do business, and in a room with several people, this can make meetings go on longer and longer without any business being done.   This is irksome, but most of us deal with the change in culture and try to make the best of it.  In that same business room, most all of the people (women and men) are wearing different clothing now, the kind of clothing found in Afghanistan and that region, and some women are even wearing full burqas.  Because you still wear a suit and tie, or business casual, you can hear side conversations about this and the looks on some of the peoples’ faces makes it seem like you’re out of touch and even that you are slowing down progress to a better tomorrow.  You’re not with the times anymore.

Churches are closed, and eventually those practicing religions other than Islam are discriminated against, and some even beaten by those more ‘excitable’ types who are tired of people following an obviously wrong religion.   All images of women portraying them as sex objects and otherwise degrading ways have been eliminated and those still holding on to those images are being punished severely.  The local high school stadium is used for a venue to view all the capital punishment cases – which now include adultry (especially if the female seduced the male) drug sellers, some drug users, practitioners of witchcraft (you didn’t even know these people existed), and those who have blasphemed Allah.

Pressure has turned to threats from neighbors, co-workers, and even some family members because your wife, nor daughter(s) are wearing the correct attire for this new society and your youngest daughter even seems to want to wear it all voluntarily and asks that you marry her off to a man who can provide for her, but to make sure he isn’t overly abusive if she makes a mistake.  She asks this very politely to you, almost cringing because of the nature of your request.

Eventually you can not take it anymore  — your world has changed and so have too many people you know and love.  This is not the best way for society, this is craziness.   You find a group of people with similar thoughts – those who wish to remove such influences from their lives and society as well.  Protesting results in prison or death in the stadiums, so when you act the actions must be severe and beyond question.   At first you only provide material support and let them meet once in a while in your garage, but this is not getting any results.

Now your children all wear this clothing, have gotten rid of all your CDs, tapes, and records of rock and roll, rap, and any other offensive material that you ‘forgot’ to turn in.  Your frustration builds as you see your daughters fumbling around in burqas, your son turning into a religious zealot who hears nothing in way of contrary ideas and even turns in those for professing them.  Your world is may be too far gone to get back, but you must try.   This can not continue.  And so you do what you feel you must do…

Now let us go back to Afghanistan’s situation and take a look again at how they see us treating our wives, sisters, and daughters — they are objectified, there are places where prostitution is legal, women are called ‘bitches and hos’, and women are forced to work their entire lives in order to provide for their family.  They see drug abuse, the effects on the family and society, they see our problems with the border of Mexico with drugs and cringe.   They see Hollywood pushing movies without substance — movies about dysfunctional families, movies making jokes about the ills of society, not to mention purely pornographic movies where others’ sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, expose themselves in disgusting way all for the camera to see.   How are these things good for the family?   Do Western cultures even care about their own families?  Billboards of practically naked women trying to sell alcohol?   Does anyone really aspire to have that as their future?   Western society has failed in their eyes because the family is of no importance.

Abortion, the killing of the newest members of the family, divorce for no real reason other than becoming bored with each other, and so many other ideas that are common in our society are disgusting to theirs.  Religious views where people do not agree and even question the words in the holy books?   This can not be a good sign.  Homosexuality on display for all to see?   Never.

This is the picture they have.    It is as disturbing to them as the previous picture is to us.   I do not have a daughter, but if I did there is no way she will ever be forced to wear a burqa.  There is no way she’ll ever have to attend an inferior school and then drop out to be married off to someone she doesn’t know and could be two, three or even four times her age.  I will fight those who try to make that happen, and I’ll do anything to make it so she does not have to live in that world.  Wouldn’t most fathers?  Wouldn’t most mothers? Wouldn’t most brothers?

With this understanding of yourself and how you feel about your own family and close friends, and what you would do for them, why is it so hard to see that another culture, quite different from ours but still its own, would also feel the same about change?   This is not a rant about cultural relativism – an idea I find idiotic, this is about understanding that while we appreciate our own culture and ways of living, other feel the same about their own to the point that they feel they have no choice but to take matters into their own hands.

Thus, it does not matter if you call them terrorists, insurgents, freedom-fighters, or anything else.  They want to destroy me and my way of life, they have stated as much and they have even hit us on our soil, and if you look at it as a cultural assault, then you should include London 7/7 bombings, and the 3/11 Madrid bombings as hitting our soil.  They want to remove our direct and indirect ability to influence their society by any means possible.  These people will not stop to talk to us, unless it benefits them to do so.  Would you stop to talk to those who are changing your society so that they can still change it?   There is no way to stop people from importing American culture.  It is found everywhere in the world to a greater or lesser degree.  Since they can not stop the influence they can only stop the originators: US.   You and me.  We are targets.

President Obama does not understand this, or he chooses to ignore this.   Either way, this is the situation and there is only one group who will win.   This will not be won over night, but we can do what it takes to make certain we do not lose overnight.   The President needs to honor his duty and responsibility to keep Americans alive.  One good way is to eliminate those who have the desire, the will, the determination, and the resolve to kill us.  It is a sign of weakness to negotiate with someone who says they will kill you.   It shows that you are not willing to take action first.

There is a well-known saying that goes something like, “On defense you only need to be wrong once to feel the effects, on offense you can afford to be wrong with much less of an adverse  effect.”

In this battle it is us versus them, our ideas versus theirs, our culture versus theirs, our lives versus theirs.  Where do you stand when it comes to protecting your family, your close friends, your country?  Where does the enemy?   Where does the President?

An Important First Step: Part the Second

In Part the First, I attempted to explain why less laws at the top, less control at the federal level is the best method for a consensual government due to the local control and difficulty in any meaningful corruption for external forces.  In this, Part the Second, I shall attempt to address the issue of what does belong at the federal level and why.  This is actually the most simple of all posts because I only need to point to the United States Constitution for these answers.

Without cutting and pasting the majority (or all) of the US Constution (USC), which is great and quick reading by the way, the idea of a Supreme  Law of the land both so small and also limiting the power of the government at that time and in future times by enumerating the powers an authority and leaving the rest to the states or the people.  While, in the opinion of this esteemed constitutional scholar, this enumeration has been abused and warped in many instances, the most worrying element is when it is completely ignored.   Our ‘representatives’ who engage in legislation and pass bills of this sort of unconstitutional nature are doing this for two reasons: Collection of more power into a smaller quantity of hands, and also as a way to bride voters into voting for them since most of the time these power-grabs are done ‘in the name of the people’ and are defined in a way to make them seem that if the federal government doesn’t do something the sky will fall.

Without going into great detail, I will use one obvious example that has been warped and misconstrued to meet the ends not of the Constitution, but of a certain subsection of society.

If a town wishes to display a nativity scene it may find the ACLU suing them to take it down on the grounds of  “separation of church and state”.  We need to take a closer look.

The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This is obvious enough as it states, “Congress shall make no law…”  Which leads the reader to ask, “Who makes up Congress?”

Article I Section I states, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

If still uncertain, the following sections of Article I explain who may comprice the U.S. Senate (including Amendment 17) and the U.S. House of Representatives and we all should have a basic idea without me quoting the sources.

Now to get back to the idea as to whom may be putting up a manger scene:  A town.  Unless the Congress of the United States is forcing that town to put it up, Congress is not establishing any religion at all and the federal government has no authority to tell the town what to do based on the Tenth Amendment, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Also, this simple display relevant to one religion does not automatically mean the establishment of the religion in that town, nor does it in any way obstruct any members of that town from worshiping as they see fit.

This is a grand example of a power grab taking control away from a locality and pushing not only to a federal level, but also into the hands of judges who are immune from public reproach and are installed for life.  There is no recourse for the town, and the people of that town can not have their way because some out-of-town group comes in and pleads their case to a sympathetic judge who is equally far removed from that town.  Freedom is diminished, power is concentrated into the hands of fewer and fewer people and the Constitution is warped to the fit the desires of the loud, not those concerned with freedom.

In ending this Part the Second, it is my desire to have explained why federal law can be dangerous and very agenda driven.  Of course local law can also be agenda driven, but it far easier to remedy (or simply move away from such idiocy).  Government must be considered as being a force as stated by George Washington, “Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

It thus must be kept at the level of a camp fire lest it be turned into a forest fire.

An Important First Step: Part the First

In order for many to understand from which angle someone writes it is important to explain the line of reasoning, or the foundation, for much of the ‘higher level’ arguments made.

When it comes to government and those who are given power to rule over me, I believe that the the most rules should come from the ‘lowest’ level of governance.  This is best shown by the fact that if the mayor or city council of my town does something I find disagreeable, I can walk or drive only a short distance to a location and give them what’s on my mind.  I also know where they live (no, not to threaten their lives) and thus I can make noise and protest vociferously and with decent results — if not to affect change to at least make my case before them and the immediate public over whom this law or rule may apply.  If this get passed up the chain to the county level, then now the distance for me to travel is farther, my voice is one of several more people than if it were done more locally and thus my voice matters less, and tracking down county commissioners will not be so easy either.   If this gets passed up the chain to the state level, we can now add the populations of all the counties in that state, add all the voices, and probably add much more distance to travel.  My voice lessens as the politician’s ears hear me less.  Now if the rule or law is created at the federal level my voice is only one of, in the case of the United States, approx. 306,000,000.  I have only one representative (and one Senator) with one vote and this representative have so many other factors in play that my writing, my yelling, my protesting, and my begging will have almost no effect what so ever.  Since this is a representative democracy for the most part, I would like to have the most authority over those who rule, and that does not happen at the federal level.

The other factor is, of course, corruption.  If I were a special interest I would prefer to only have to bribe half (plus one) of 435, and half (plus one) of 100 — U.S. Congress, rather than half (plus one per type) of  the mayors, city councils, county commissioners, and state legislatures for the entire United States.  Having a top heavy system of laws and legislation makes it easy for corruption to take hold and it makes it easy for blackmailers, bribers, and frauds to have their way.

According to the US Census website http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/gc021x1.pdf

There are 87,525 local governments, 3,034 county governments, 19,429 municipal governments, 16,504 town or township governments, and 13,506 school districts.  There are obviously 50 state governments, and only 1 federal government.   Imagine the pain for a special interest to sway the opinion of all those small governments, imagine the simplicity to sit in Washington D.C to do the same.

Certainly there are specific issues which must be handled at the federal level, and wonderfully enough, we have the U.S. Constitution to spell out all of those things.  All other aspects of the government are to be left to the states, or the people as stated in Amendment X: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

Why Read this Blog?

The question as to why to read or contribute this blog as opposed to any other is one of the most basic of questions possible. It is also one of the easiest to answer: We plan to enlighten with facts and reasoned thoughts on any number of subjects; we will not simply point fingers or insult those with whom we disagree.  If facts or reason seem to be lacking then there is a problem and it must be resolved – just like in the real world.