It appears
that Ron Paul's campaign in South Carolina has met a serious setback.
During the Republican debate last night, he received a few rounds
of intermittent "boos" because of his espousing of
the golden rule. Apparently, this enclave of neo-conservatives isn’t too
fond of respect, national sovereignty, or reciprocation in kind for aggression. Of course, this is in the heart of the Bible
Belt, yet none of these “individuals” had qualms with principles, in regards to
war, which has been a longstanding tradition in every branch of Christianity.
I
suppose he would’ve been better off proposing that we invade Iraq again. The media has cast our candidate as an enemy
of America, and enemy of strength, and an enemy of American government. But I’d like to counter that dispersion of his
candidacy. Who is the greater threat in
regards to American rule of law? A
president who uses Summary Judgment to kill American citizens, a 16 year old,
just because his relative is exercising the first amendment? This is a creepy throwback to the times of
The Alien and Sedition Act of 1918, in which it became illegal to criticize the
government of the United States.
Regardless of the content or incendiary nature of speech, or even speech
meant to inflame, subvert, or destroy the United States, should still be
legal. The idea that jailing(or in this
case, turning them into Middle-Eastern meat smithereens) dissidents will make
them go away is not only irrational, but it fails to end the dissent. How do you think Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaida
recruit? How do you think the
surrounding citizens of Yemen feel when a house suddenly isn’t there, and you
know your government has no way to stop attacks that destroy its sovereignty?
Jailing and bombing
people who you disagree with only gives more merit to their arguments, and
decreases the strength and appreciation of whatever institution you are a part
of. In Algeria, the French equivalent of
the American experience in Vietnam’s
harsh jungles, the torture of the native populous by French Special
Forces didn’t result in enclaves of secret information being exposed: rather,
it resulted in public outcry and only increased the demands that they leave.
If
we are to succeed, or at least mitigate, the effects of terrorists, Islamic extremists,
and nationalistic seperatists, we must jail them for crimes they have
committed, and nothing more. That is the
only way our “War on Terror” can be solved.
Times are strange, my friend. There's not much we can do unless citizens unite and fight against this.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally following...love politics!!! Keep up the good work! I love how Obama is doing even worse things than Bush did and calls himself a person of personal freedoms! >.<
ReplyDeleteThe sheep will follow whatever the media says :|
ReplyDeleteI think the bombing people you disagree with has a neutral effect. The bomber often represents a widely opposing view and is an exception to a general rule.
ReplyDelete