Monday, December 19, 2011

Victory for the Terrorists?

Osama bin Laden is dead, or so we’re told, but the President of the United States and the US Congress have given Al Qaeda, Hizbolah, the Taliban and all the other anti-democratic terrorists the greatest victory they have ever had, a victory they could have never, ever, have gotten on their own. By a margin of 87 to 13 the US Senate passed and the President will ‘reluctantly’ sign the defense appropriations bill that includes three provisions that effectively undo the 5th and 6th amendments to the US Constitution, allowing the President or his designees to arrest and detain anybody, US citizen or no, and hold them incommunicado, if they are labeled by said President or his designees as aiding, supporting or in anyway participating in acts of terrorism against the US and its allies.

Think about that! Do you hear the sigh of relief going up to heaven around the nation? At long last we are finally safe! Thank God! Now, a person can be labeled a terrorist by some bureaucrat, picked up and held, but not tortured of course, the US doesn’t torture, and held until God knows when. So what, you say, I’m not a terrorist. You are if ‘they’ say you are. That’s all it takes, and you have no recourse; can’t have a lawyer, can’t confront your accusers who need no evidence; you just go to jail. Too bad for your family and business; too bad for you.

This passed 87-13 and will be ‘reluctantly’ signed by the President. Who are these people? What do they think they’re doing? What happens to common sense, compassion and support for the Constitution once these people get to Washington? We have met the enemy and they is us. We did this to ourselves, not the Nazis, Commies or terrorists, but our so-called elected ‘representatives.’ Who or what do they represent? Don’t they take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States? Which Constitution are they protecting and defending?

Fear, blame, anger, laziness and competition – the way we’ve been thinking about things and doing things lately in the good old USA, has taken us to this place. It’s a place we’ve never been before, one that doesn’t bode well for Truth, Justice and The American Way. If we always do what we always did, we’ll always get what we always got. Haven’t we had enough of this garbage? Must we go the way of the Roman and British empires? Can’t we stop before it’s too late?

Einstein said you can’t solve the problem at the level of thinking that produced it in the first place. We’ve met the enemy and they is us. If we want things to be different we’ve got to be different. We’ve got to change how we think and behave. We’ve got to look within at our own hearts and minds, not without at terrorists. It’s us. The terrorists are only doing what they’ve sworn to do. What are we doing? Who have we become? What’s going on in our hearts and minds? Can we finally take responsibility for our own thinking and behavior? If we can’t or won’t do that, control ourselves in our own homes, what chance do we have to control others?

The fear mongers and terrorists we’ve got to watch out for are the people we elected in Washington and in many state capitols. The level of thinking we need to solve our current problems is within us, not outside us. We’re the ones eviscerating the Constitution and endangering our own safety. We’re the ones who need to take responsibility for our dysfunctional thinking and behavior. If we do that, we have a chance. If we don’t, we’re doomed. Business as usual, blaming, denial and finger pointing will destroy us.

I don’t have the answer. I don’t think there is an answer. I think wanting a single answer and not wanting to face the uncertainty of dealing with the complexities we’ve created, is a big part of the problem. But I do know that if we don’t recognize the real problem – our own thinking and behavior – we’ll never find a viable solution.

I invite you to think about this, see and understand the problem, then join with me in exploring new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that as Einstein said, take us to a new level so that we can, together, people of all beliefs and natures, come up with something that will deny the terrorists, both foreign and domestic their victory, and enable us to contribute to a world that works for everyone and everything.

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