October 17, 2002

american dreams

file under: thoughts about things

the following is the text of a letter i sent to my representatives in congress. if recent actions by our governement upset and concern you as much as they concern me, i suggest you do the same. visit either the senate or house web sites and locate your representative.

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Greetings Senator Boxer, Senator Feinstein, and Representative Pelosi:

I write to you today to express my concerns regarding recent actions by the President and Congress, specifically related to general US foreign policy, the ongoing fight against terrorism, and the seemingly inevitable invasion of Iraq.

I recently attended a lecture discussing a new book on human nature, and the author presented what I thought was a very timely quote from one of our founding fathers:

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."

-- James Madison (4th president of the United States)

Lately, it seems we dream that we are angels, our delusions driven by the terrorist attack that changed this country forever. We need to wake up from this dream; we need to realize that we cannot act alone to combat our fears and create a better world; we need the support and assistance of our human brothers and sisters, the world community. In some cases, we should even defer to their collective judgment, because the wisdom of the group often surpasses that of the individual.

And yet we act as if we are alone, and we act with oppressive righteousness:

...

 We pursue interventionist, short-sighted, self-interested foreign policy initiatives that the bulk of the world does not support. As a direct result, we strengthen the perception that Americans live behind a wall, only deigning to come out when it behooves us economically or politically. We are steadily isolating ourselves from the world stage, becoming the bully on the playground who eventually has no friends save those he scares into submission.

 Our president's knee-jerk, ill-informed, pro-Israeli policy demonstrates little genuine interest in resolving one of the most challenging conflicts of the 20th century, and appears instead to be exacerbating the problem. This in turn heightens tensions in the Middle East, and increases the perception that President Bush is anything but a compassionate, concerned diplomat whose goal is to achieve peace.

 We threaten to erode our own civil liberties through our war on terrorism by steadily encroaching on personal privacy; we also threaten to reduce the freedoms enjoyed by those who would join us as immigrants. This country is strong precisely because it is a melting pot, open to people of all creeds, colors, and philosophies. Based on what I've heard lately, fewer and fewer people of differing ethnicities and philosophies feel welcome here.

 We are blind to the potential insanity of our course of action in Iraq; it seems apparent to everyone but us. President Bush is behaving in a manner that does not befit his station within the greatest democracy ever conceived. He is alienating the United Nations, as well as most of our allies, and he appears to be bullying Congress in the process.

We live in a global community, our economies and actions tightly linked, and the United States should behave as such. And yet, somehow, we keep building walls between ourselves and others, hiding inside the righteousness of the new American Dream. If our country is defined by its actions, then let us prove ourselves to be intelligent, compassionate, open, and wise, rather than reactionary, militaristic, and self-interested.

Thank you for your consideration of my remarks, and thank you for serving this country with conscience.

Posted: 10.17.02 at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)