The Death Of America

[The Deacon]

I have obeyed the Law, mostly, for my entire life. Yes, there was the inevitable adolescent curiosity with certain noxious weeds & altered states of consciousness. I have, on occasion, interpreted the speed limit rather than strictly obeying it. In my foolish youth I did not necessarily adhere to the blood alcohol limit for driving - believing, in the arrogance that comes with ignorance & inexperience, that I was in control of my faculties & the motor vehicle.

I say all this not as a form of special pleading, nor to establish some pattern of wanton law-breaking. Nor is this the beginning of some tedious public confession for the betterment of my soul - that I will leave to fallen movie stars. It is simply to establish that I am not a Saint, have never aspired to that rank, nor do I too harshly judge those who fall short of that rank - been there, done that, thank God or Fate no one was hurt & I've matured now into a law-abiding citizen.

I know that many of our political leaders, particularly Mr. Bush, could claim these same experiences, with one major exception. The entire time I was willfully breaking the Law, I knew I was breaking the Law, and fully expected to suffer punishment if caught while doing it.

My father was never rich, was never politically connected. In all the jobs I have done during my life, none ever came with the promise that illegal acts committed while working would be absolved. I always fully expected to suffer, myself & myself alone, any consequences arising from any action I took. This I expected regardless of whether actions I took were solely my own decision or on orders of another - for in accepting the orders of another, there, too, I make a decision.

You see, I am a Free Man - and as such, fully expect to be accountable for my actions. Forgive me for waving the flag here - but this is what my parents taught me America was all about: free men & women freely taking action & fully expecting to enjoy the benefits, or to be held accountable for the consequences, of those actions.

It is apparent Mr. Bush does not share the same experiences I have after all, regardless of whatever superficial similarities there may be between his youthful indiscretions & mine. He, apparently, has never expected to suffer any consequences for actions he has taken. It is apparent in his enlistment with the Texas Air National Guard - and his willful abrogation of his duties when they interfered with what he wanted to do. It is apparent in his business life when, time after time, friends of his father or those who sought to curry favor with his father purchased worthless stock at wildly inflated prices to protect him from his bad business decisions. It is apparent in his use of insider information to profit in stock trades, withhold that information - and then claim it was a "technical" violation. It is apparent in his insistence that others take the blame for his cherry-picking of intelligence, insisting that he was mislead by others - and that other nations were similarly mislead.

It has never been so sadly apparent as when Mr. Bush attempts, retroactively, to make legal the illegal acts he has committed or ordered others to commit. We have heard much from Mr. Bush on Personal Responsibility - even as we have seen precious little evidence of it from him.

I will not argue here whether torturing prisoners in our custody makes Mr. Bush liable under the War Crimes Act or whether American laws extend to actions undertaken on foreign shores by Americans on foreign subjects. I will not argue here whether "water-boarding" constitutes torture, or even whether prisoners in our custody were subjected to "water-boarding." I will not argue here on the Constitutionality of making illegal acts retroactively legal - ex post facto in legal terms. These are arguments better left to people with more extensive knowledge of the Law than I can claim to possess. I will not even argue here whether, in some cases, illegal action is demanded by circumstance.

No, I am here, today, to discuss the responsibility of Free Men & Women in a Free Society. You recently claimed, Mr. Bush, to have read the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus. I, too, have read this novel - though I read it as a Senior in High School, as most of my contemporaries did. I'm not sure what you took away from your reading of this modern classic - Tony Snow was frustratingly vague on this point - but I know one of the things I was struck by when I read it: the responsibility of a Free Man or Woman in a Free Society to accept responsibility. Pretty heavy stuff for an eighteen year old - but then, you see, that is when our Society begins to accept you as a Free Man or Woman. In most States you can sign a contract in your own name. In my day it was when you could legally partake of alcohol - albeit in watered down "cereal malt beverage" form. You may, at that time, take up arms & place your life at risk to defend your Country - and ask no one's permission first.

And what did I conclude, pimply-faced, fearing the future I now selected for myself & myself alone - what did I conclude those many winters ago that the responsibility of a Free Man in a Free Society was?

That the responsibility, no, the privilege of Free Men & Women in a Free Society is to make decisions. Like our other freedoms, this was also bought & paid for with the sweat and blood and very lives of those who came before us. But unlike our other freedoms, with which we are endowed and guaranteed, this is one we must, each of us, earn anew again each day - for it is only in the willing acceptance of the consequences of the exercise of this privilege that it has any existence - a decision made without appreciation of the consequences is not a decision.

Many Free Men & Women, people of principle, have committed illegal acts they felt circumstances compelled - and they accepted, even welcomed, the consequences. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr - never did they ask to be absolved. Members of the Continental Congress knew that by signing the Declaration of Independence they committed treason & signed their own death warrants.

Was the need compelling that we torture those we held in secret captivity? Was the information so necessary that illegality had to be countenanced?

I do not know. But I do know that a Free Man, a truly Free Man, would stand honorably, bravely, before History & proclaim:
This I did - I thought it necessary to protect that which we hold dear. I am here to submit myself for punishment - for Free Men & Women do not hide in the dark, nor make special pleadings, nor lawyerly maneuvering - they own their actions as only Real Men & Women do.

Anything else is posturing in someone else's flight suit.

[Wanet]

1. Thank you, Deacon

Eloquently said.

-- Wanet

[The Deacon]

2. I Prepared By Re-Reading Keith's "Special Comments"

So I was inspired by eloquence (and a burning anger at what some would turn this experiment in the best instincts of the Human Race into.)