Does The End Of The Great Experiment Loom Before Us?
My thoughts of late have been centrally and primarily focused on the issues of liberty, freedom, justice and first principles. It would therefore be no surprise that I now write about these things yet again. But as I awoke this morning a question came to mind:
Is the United States about to fail as a nation?
While some of the conservatives I associate with will hoot and howl about the very notion of the question, we have to stop and examine the events of the last couple of years.
I. During the Clinton administration congress was already shifting, not only to the right, but also into a mode of fearfulness and fascism. As a result of this fear the congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which inherently stole basic fundamental rights that were placed in our Constitution as guarantees. The Patriot Act, which has been modified by judicial review, originally allowed all of the following modifications to the first principles upon which our nation was built:
A. Eliminated judicial oversight for many previously restricted forms of electronic surveillance.
B. Expanded surveillance authority to include Internet activities without probable cause or oversight.
C. Included voice mail communications under ordinary search warrant criteria rather than wiretapping.
D. Eliminated barriers regarding the collection of randomly determined electronic communications.
E. Authorization of “sneek and peek” secret searches and lowered the standard for search warrants.
F. Allowed secret investigations of persons anonymously identified as being associated with terrorism.
G. Lowered the standard required to establish surveillance of foreign entities and persons outside the US.
H. Establishment of “roving wiretaps” that would monitor cell phones, computers, etc. on the fly.
I. Broaden the scope of seizure authority to include “tangible” items without specification. (1)
The Patriot Act received some initial scrutiny and resistance when it was first proposed as it came on the heels of Project Carnivore proposed by the FBI. However, the events of 9-11 placed the bill on a fast track and received overwhelming support due to the fearful mode our nation entered after the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and Flight 93 became our reality. In this atmosphere of fear, and the reactionary response of many politicians that something had to be done, the Patriot Act was only opposed by one lone Senator, Russ Feingold (D- Wisconsin). (2) The negotiations that pushed the bill through congress were rushed, harried and frantic. There was no genuine forethought as to how this would affect liberty, privacy, civil rights and human dignity. The point was to make our nation secure. The real effect of the Patriot Act was to open the door and provide a slippery slope that has eroded basic liberties and our founding principles.
II. Subsequent to the events of 9-11and the rushed passing of the Patriot Act, we have experienced a gradual grab for power, and a resulting erosion of yet more liberty, by George W. Bush and his administration. We have seen all of the following:
A. The authorization of torture and “coercive interrogation” of prisoners held by US authority.
B. The use of “rendition”: the turning over of prisoners to nations that willingly employ torture.
C. The detention of prisoners without access to legal counsel or judicial review of the case against them.
D. The abrogation of US obligations under the terms of the Charter of the United Nations.
E. The abrogation of US obligations under the terms of the Geneva Conventions.
F. Violation of international law, treaties and agreements valid under US law.
G. The abrogation of basic human rights under the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
H. The expansion of covert surveillance and operations against sovereign foreign nations.
I. The use of covert surveillance of American citizens without probable cause or due process.
J. The imprisonment of US citizens without warrant, charges, access to counsel or court.
K. Assertions of authority by the executive branch not specifically granted by law or congress.
L. Erosion of international standing of our nation before the world.
M. The development of pervasive prejudices, bias and ideology that targets defenseless persons.
N. Erosions, abrogation, circumvention and circumscription of inalienable constitutional rights.
These are not the values and principles upon which our nation was founded. These are not the actions of a great nation that has striven to be an example of freedom and democracy in action for the world to see. These are not the values offered to us by our forefathers, the framers of our constitution and the founders of our nation. These are not the values that thousands of veterans fought for in six major wars during the last 100 years.
An important point is that every senator, representative, soldier, sailor, airman and marine serving our country takes an oath to faithfully serve and protect the Constitution. The president, vice president and every federal official in high office take a similar oath, as do the judges and justices on the federal bench. In fact, every police officer, elected state official, state judge and state officer takes a similar oath, affirming our fundamental belief in the basic values and first principles embodied in that document.
Many conservatives, especially those among the Christian Right, argue that our fundamental values are derived from Christian sources. While it is true that many of our values do have a foundation of freedom to worship, there are other foundations as well. Justice is not exclusively a Christian value or principle. Freedom is not exclusively derived from Judeo-Christian tradition. Privacy does not stem only from religious principles. Tolerance of others and the exchange of discourse and ideas are not only derived from Western tradition.
In fact, may of these values and principles were developed in spite, and in dark contrast, to values espoused by religious authority, precedent and tradition. Many of the first citizens of this nation came here to escape the oppression and domination of government and church that restricted free thought, free worship, privacy and basic rights. Throughout the history of the Western culture—to which the United States is surely a part—church authority has sought to govern nations, set political agendas centered on control, anoint secular leaders on the basis of religious authority, prohibit academic freedom, inhibit science and art, impede personal privacy and control the manner in which people lived.
The sovereign king of England ruled not only as a secular leader, but also as the head of state for the Anglican church. Prior to that, the bishops, archbishops, cardinals and popes of the Catholic church—leaders of my own church and faith—endorsed kings, queens, lords and fiefdoms based not only on religious grounds, but also political and economic.
Our founding fathers, the framers of our Constitution, recognized the potential of government and religion to exert tyrannical control over the lives of individuals, families and communities. Using the reasoning of great thinkers like Hume, Locke, Mill, Rousseau, De Tocqueville, Bentham, and so many more, our framers and founders hammered out a form of government that cast off the tyranny and oppression of established religion, and placed checks and balances upon the government. In the process, they asserted that no man, government or religion could impose or interfere with certain inalienable rights. They specifically identified some of those rights and placed them in our Bill of Rights, reserving those that were not specifically delineated to the people.
George Washington called the nation formed out of a war, a failure of its initial form of government, and the development of our current Constitution, the “great experiment.”
III. Our federal government is failing to serve the ideals, values and principles upon which our nation was founded. The Preamble of the Constitution sets out specific purposes, functions and goals of our government:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (3) (4)
We have seen our current government fail to fulfill these purposes, functions and goals in the following ways:
A. The federal, state and local governments failed to adequately respond to disasters within our nation.
B. The federal government failed to respond appropriately to disasters, even with advanced notice.
C. The federal government has operated overwhelmingly in secret or covert ways.
D. Our nation has been placed in a fearful modality whereby we govern on terms determined by fear.
E. We are seeking to appoint judges and justices that do not adhere to constitutional principles.
F. An imbalance of ideological bias now controls the executive branch of the federal government.
G. An imbalance of ideological bias now controls the legislative branch of the federal government.
H. An imbalance of ideological bias now controls the judicial branch of the federal government.
I. Religious ideology and preferences are exercised within our government.
J. Our policies regarding medicine, insurance, labor, etc. are skewed against the general welfare.
K. Big business and affluence have more access and influence over government than ordinary citizens.
L. Political office is obtained by raising and spending millions of dollars.
M. Our political leaders cannot seem to operate absent of scandal, ideology or self-interest.
N. Justice is for sale to whomever can afford the best lawyer, the best public relations or the most time.
O. Our liberties are being eroded and torn away from us in an environment of fear and pseudo-crisis.
P. Our military forces are deployed not for defense, but for political gains and world domination.
Q. The divide between the rich and poor has never been greater than it is today.
R. Access to the benefits of government, education, healthcare and courts are increasingly restricted.
S. We are allowing our resources to be consumed and destroyed without regard for the future.
T. Our politics are entirely partisan and without compromise in most matters.
We cannot seem to find common ground because we cannot agree on the importance of the first principles that our founders and framers established as paramount to good government and a free society. While many in our nation have prospered, many times it has been on the backs of immigrants, disadvantaged groups, groups subject to discrimination and as a result of those that have worked faithfully without proper reward. We now live in a society where a CEO can survive a company’s economic failure with a “golden parachute” that not only insulates him or her from economic hardship, but rewards for running a company into financial ruin. But workers in the same circumstances—that dedicated themselves to the financial and market well being of a company—are denied benefits and pensions promised over hard years.
So, have we come to the stage where we have to examine whether or not we can go forward with the “great experiment”? Have we reached a point where we need to dissolve our union and bonds, separating into various sovereign states, and allowing each state to determine its own destiny? Are we now at a point where it is incumbent upon each individual and family to discern which nation, state or principality will support their rights, values, principles and vision of the future before deciding where to live?
Perhaps it is time to carefully consider what the future holds for us as individuals, families, communities, states, regions and as a nation. At this moment the words of Patrick Henry come to mind:
“Give me Liberty or give me death!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTES:
(1) Electronic Privacy Information Center - http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/
(2) Ibid.
(3) Preamble, Constitution of the United States of America(4) c.f. Suddenly Seeking Values I, Jim Downey, www.digitaldivide.net/blog/JMDowney/view?PostID=6328
Is the United States about to fail as a nation?
While some of the conservatives I associate with will hoot and howl about the very notion of the question, we have to stop and examine the events of the last couple of years.
I. During the Clinton administration congress was already shifting, not only to the right, but also into a mode of fearfulness and fascism. As a result of this fear the congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which inherently stole basic fundamental rights that were placed in our Constitution as guarantees. The Patriot Act, which has been modified by judicial review, originally allowed all of the following modifications to the first principles upon which our nation was built:
A. Eliminated judicial oversight for many previously restricted forms of electronic surveillance.
B. Expanded surveillance authority to include Internet activities without probable cause or oversight.
C. Included voice mail communications under ordinary search warrant criteria rather than wiretapping.
D. Eliminated barriers regarding the collection of randomly determined electronic communications.
E. Authorization of “sneek and peek” secret searches and lowered the standard for search warrants.
F. Allowed secret investigations of persons anonymously identified as being associated with terrorism.
G. Lowered the standard required to establish surveillance of foreign entities and persons outside the US.
H. Establishment of “roving wiretaps” that would monitor cell phones, computers, etc. on the fly.
I. Broaden the scope of seizure authority to include “tangible” items without specification. (1)
The Patriot Act received some initial scrutiny and resistance when it was first proposed as it came on the heels of Project Carnivore proposed by the FBI. However, the events of 9-11 placed the bill on a fast track and received overwhelming support due to the fearful mode our nation entered after the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and Flight 93 became our reality. In this atmosphere of fear, and the reactionary response of many politicians that something had to be done, the Patriot Act was only opposed by one lone Senator, Russ Feingold (D- Wisconsin). (2) The negotiations that pushed the bill through congress were rushed, harried and frantic. There was no genuine forethought as to how this would affect liberty, privacy, civil rights and human dignity. The point was to make our nation secure. The real effect of the Patriot Act was to open the door and provide a slippery slope that has eroded basic liberties and our founding principles.
II. Subsequent to the events of 9-11and the rushed passing of the Patriot Act, we have experienced a gradual grab for power, and a resulting erosion of yet more liberty, by George W. Bush and his administration. We have seen all of the following:
A. The authorization of torture and “coercive interrogation” of prisoners held by US authority.
B. The use of “rendition”: the turning over of prisoners to nations that willingly employ torture.
C. The detention of prisoners without access to legal counsel or judicial review of the case against them.
D. The abrogation of US obligations under the terms of the Charter of the United Nations.
E. The abrogation of US obligations under the terms of the Geneva Conventions.
F. Violation of international law, treaties and agreements valid under US law.
G. The abrogation of basic human rights under the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
H. The expansion of covert surveillance and operations against sovereign foreign nations.
I. The use of covert surveillance of American citizens without probable cause or due process.
J. The imprisonment of US citizens without warrant, charges, access to counsel or court.
K. Assertions of authority by the executive branch not specifically granted by law or congress.
L. Erosion of international standing of our nation before the world.
M. The development of pervasive prejudices, bias and ideology that targets defenseless persons.
N. Erosions, abrogation, circumvention and circumscription of inalienable constitutional rights.
These are not the values and principles upon which our nation was founded. These are not the actions of a great nation that has striven to be an example of freedom and democracy in action for the world to see. These are not the values offered to us by our forefathers, the framers of our constitution and the founders of our nation. These are not the values that thousands of veterans fought for in six major wars during the last 100 years.
An important point is that every senator, representative, soldier, sailor, airman and marine serving our country takes an oath to faithfully serve and protect the Constitution. The president, vice president and every federal official in high office take a similar oath, as do the judges and justices on the federal bench. In fact, every police officer, elected state official, state judge and state officer takes a similar oath, affirming our fundamental belief in the basic values and first principles embodied in that document.
Many conservatives, especially those among the Christian Right, argue that our fundamental values are derived from Christian sources. While it is true that many of our values do have a foundation of freedom to worship, there are other foundations as well. Justice is not exclusively a Christian value or principle. Freedom is not exclusively derived from Judeo-Christian tradition. Privacy does not stem only from religious principles. Tolerance of others and the exchange of discourse and ideas are not only derived from Western tradition.
In fact, may of these values and principles were developed in spite, and in dark contrast, to values espoused by religious authority, precedent and tradition. Many of the first citizens of this nation came here to escape the oppression and domination of government and church that restricted free thought, free worship, privacy and basic rights. Throughout the history of the Western culture—to which the United States is surely a part—church authority has sought to govern nations, set political agendas centered on control, anoint secular leaders on the basis of religious authority, prohibit academic freedom, inhibit science and art, impede personal privacy and control the manner in which people lived.
The sovereign king of England ruled not only as a secular leader, but also as the head of state for the Anglican church. Prior to that, the bishops, archbishops, cardinals and popes of the Catholic church—leaders of my own church and faith—endorsed kings, queens, lords and fiefdoms based not only on religious grounds, but also political and economic.
Our founding fathers, the framers of our Constitution, recognized the potential of government and religion to exert tyrannical control over the lives of individuals, families and communities. Using the reasoning of great thinkers like Hume, Locke, Mill, Rousseau, De Tocqueville, Bentham, and so many more, our framers and founders hammered out a form of government that cast off the tyranny and oppression of established religion, and placed checks and balances upon the government. In the process, they asserted that no man, government or religion could impose or interfere with certain inalienable rights. They specifically identified some of those rights and placed them in our Bill of Rights, reserving those that were not specifically delineated to the people.
George Washington called the nation formed out of a war, a failure of its initial form of government, and the development of our current Constitution, the “great experiment.”
III. Our federal government is failing to serve the ideals, values and principles upon which our nation was founded. The Preamble of the Constitution sets out specific purposes, functions and goals of our government:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (3) (4)
We have seen our current government fail to fulfill these purposes, functions and goals in the following ways:
A. The federal, state and local governments failed to adequately respond to disasters within our nation.
B. The federal government failed to respond appropriately to disasters, even with advanced notice.
C. The federal government has operated overwhelmingly in secret or covert ways.
D. Our nation has been placed in a fearful modality whereby we govern on terms determined by fear.
E. We are seeking to appoint judges and justices that do not adhere to constitutional principles.
F. An imbalance of ideological bias now controls the executive branch of the federal government.
G. An imbalance of ideological bias now controls the legislative branch of the federal government.
H. An imbalance of ideological bias now controls the judicial branch of the federal government.
I. Religious ideology and preferences are exercised within our government.
J. Our policies regarding medicine, insurance, labor, etc. are skewed against the general welfare.
K. Big business and affluence have more access and influence over government than ordinary citizens.
L. Political office is obtained by raising and spending millions of dollars.
M. Our political leaders cannot seem to operate absent of scandal, ideology or self-interest.
N. Justice is for sale to whomever can afford the best lawyer, the best public relations or the most time.
O. Our liberties are being eroded and torn away from us in an environment of fear and pseudo-crisis.
P. Our military forces are deployed not for defense, but for political gains and world domination.
Q. The divide between the rich and poor has never been greater than it is today.
R. Access to the benefits of government, education, healthcare and courts are increasingly restricted.
S. We are allowing our resources to be consumed and destroyed without regard for the future.
T. Our politics are entirely partisan and without compromise in most matters.
We cannot seem to find common ground because we cannot agree on the importance of the first principles that our founders and framers established as paramount to good government and a free society. While many in our nation have prospered, many times it has been on the backs of immigrants, disadvantaged groups, groups subject to discrimination and as a result of those that have worked faithfully without proper reward. We now live in a society where a CEO can survive a company’s economic failure with a “golden parachute” that not only insulates him or her from economic hardship, but rewards for running a company into financial ruin. But workers in the same circumstances—that dedicated themselves to the financial and market well being of a company—are denied benefits and pensions promised over hard years.
So, have we come to the stage where we have to examine whether or not we can go forward with the “great experiment”? Have we reached a point where we need to dissolve our union and bonds, separating into various sovereign states, and allowing each state to determine its own destiny? Are we now at a point where it is incumbent upon each individual and family to discern which nation, state or principality will support their rights, values, principles and vision of the future before deciding where to live?
Perhaps it is time to carefully consider what the future holds for us as individuals, families, communities, states, regions and as a nation. At this moment the words of Patrick Henry come to mind:
“Give me Liberty or give me death!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTES:
(1) Electronic Privacy Information Center - http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/
(2) Ibid.
(3) Preamble, Constitution of the United States of America(4) c.f. Suddenly Seeking Values I, Jim Downey, www.digitaldivide.net/blog/JMDowney/view?PostID=6328
posted by Jim Downey at 7:22 PM
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