Democracy For All?
Part One
This being my very first post here on Slapdash, I regret to say it will be of a somewhat political nature and it may be a long one. Let me begin by saying that I see myself as a conservative, yet I very rarely agree with the ruling members of the GOP or any other party for that matter. Politics can get very complicated at times. We ask ourselves questions like... “How involved should government be in the schooling of my children?” “How involved should they be in the caring for our indigent and elderly or the housing of the homeless and the feeding of the hungry?” And on and on and on ad infinitum.I know a lot of liberals believe that it is immoral for one to have much, when another has little or nothing. Although this has similarities with a tenant of Spockian logic, I do not agree that it is immoral.
What about this next question? “What is the best way to protect America and Americans?” I can tell you thatI don't have all of the answers, but it seems to me that we as a nation are headed down a path that can not possibly have a happy ending. So now I think it is time we asked a different set of questions and ponder hard on the answers.
How would the colonists in the original 13 American colonies have responded had the British Government seen the Boston Tea Party as industrial terrorism and invaded in massive force?
Instead of invading (they were already here) , what the British government (a monarchy) chose to do, was write a bunch of parliamentary laws that led to the formation in the colonies of the Continental Congress which of course eventually led to the Declaration of independence. But what if, under the guise of protecting “British Interests” abroad, they pulled forces from the ongoing war against the French and for lack of a better word, had invaded? Now keep in mind that there was no such thing as the United States of America yet. The people who would become known as Americans did not have a country, in name, to defend.
I think history tells us how this would have gone. When the war for independence began, British troops were often harassed by a group of guys who would hide behind rocks and trees, take pot shots at them with rifle, musket and hand gun and then run off. Americans remember some of them fondly as the “Minute Men.” Basically they were loosely formed militias fighting what they considered to be an Imperialistic regime suppressing their right to a life of their choosing. The British, who followed the rules of engagement of the day (you guys line up on that side of the field, we'll line up over here and we can shoot each other to pieces) saw this type of warfare as cowardly. Today as Americans, we refer to this type of behavior as “the insurgency” and it's adherents as insurgents.I know that what I have just said is somewhat inflammatory and make no mistake, I do not pretend to compare the war in Iraq to the American War for Independence. Still I ask you to understand that, our war for independence was a war that we fought for us. Democracy as a form of government was something we chose. So I guess this leads to the next question... but that is part two.
