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Little Minds And Large Empires

By Niranjan Ramakrishnan

written: April 23, 2003
Countercurrents.org

[This was written shortly after the invasion of Iraq. It seems now to be as good a perspective on the post-9/11 decade.]

Inertia tempts us to cast the new in the continuum of the old. But there are times, generally rare, when only by stepping out of the immediate can one grasp the meaning of ongoing events.

This, it seems to me, is definitely one of those times.

Whether you agree or disagree with President Bush, whether you think he was elected or not, whether you think the Iraq war was fair or unfair - whatever your views on these and sundry other current topics, one thing is clear: two years into the Bush II presidency, America is a changed land. People thought this when Ronald Reagan was at the helm. But those changes were nothing compared to the changes wrought by the first two years of the Bush 43 tenure. An administration hell-bent on force-feeding democracy to the middle east seems to miss this delicious paradox - while it may take years in the stated quest to make Arabia pulsate with the democratic instinct, Bin Laden has already succeeded in dismantling substantial pieces of it in the land of its birth. Just look at all the things Americans could take pride in for over two centuries, shattered in an instant by a few desperate men with box-cutters.

  • Almost without demur, America has accepted a Patriot Act which abridges some of its most cherished freedoms. Detention without trial is now increasingly accepted. Even as security agencies gain undreamt-of powers to intrude into the lives of the citizenry, the administration seeks even greater powers to do more of the same.

  • On another front, America is embarked on what can justifiably be regarded as naked aggression against a sovereign nation. (That its leadership was cruel and crude makes no difference to this basic fact. Nor does the fact that victory came with minimal casualties).

  • America has rushed into war with less deliberation than attends even routine decisions - renaming a road takes longer in America. In the process, it has painstakingly gutted the legitimacy of the UN, the International Court of Justice, and other universal bodies.

  • The American people have been openly lied to over the course of these months, with the administration trotting out one sham reason after another for attacking Iraq. As each dissembling was exposed, Bush and Co. just recycled the fibs without the slightest embarrassment. As of date, the admininstration is yet to give a convincing reason why the war was necessary, not to mention why 70 billion dollars of "your money", as the president likes to call it, has been squandered at a time when American schools are scrounging for funds and millions are without jobs and health care.

  • The Congress of the United States, whose Senate chamber has been called the 'greatest deliberative body in the world', has abdicated its duty to discuss the great issues before the nation, and become a handmaiden of the administration, churning out legislation in record time to suit the president's needs.

  • A nation once proud of its free and independent press is now seized by a pervasive fear complex, evidenced by a new McCarthyism accusing anyone criticizing the Administration and its war (by what strange logic it is unclear, for the First Amendment makes no exceptions for war) of being "unpatriotic". The press itself (with very few exceptions) has mutely followed the administration's cues, wallowing in its formidable technological capacities while jettisoning its basic adversarial role.

Looking at this list, surely just a small subset of the damage we have done to ourselves, a Bin Laden might say to himself, "Not a bad morning's work." But no lover of the American republic could feel anything but sorrow at what has been forfeited in this mad response to what was, ultimately, an act of crime, howsoever massive and unprecedented.

Could it have been different ? Possibly.

Under a leadership capable of greater introspection, with a measure of the true nature of American power (the power to inspire), and a capacity for articulation stretching beyond the tele-prom-ter, the nation could have risen from the shock and sorrow of 9-11 to heights hitherto unscaled.

What if President Bush had set a course somewhat along these lines: " My fellow Americans, the events of this morning (9-11) have shown us that we live in a dangerous world, where people can take advantage of our open society to wreak havoc on us.

"True to our anthem, we will show the world that we are indeed the land of the free, and the home of the brave...

"Yes, we will track down the criminals who did this. We will take protective measures, in the areas of immigration and border patrol and the like. But on no account will we restrict the freedoms of our people. This means that I expect Americans to continue to express themselves as openly and freely as ever. And to dissent, which is the lifeblood of our republic...

"While we address the criminal aspect of this outrage, we must also take the opportunity to examine what it is that makes our world so violent. It is a moment calling for steely determination, but also one of deep self-examination. The pervasive nature of violence as a means to resolving disputes, and our own record in this matter, both need to be looked into. We will do so without fear or illusion, and act on our conclusions...

"America has been attacked, for the first time in nearly 200 years, on its own soil. As surely as we shall restore the buildings that were shattered, and bring solace to those who grieve for the dead, we shall work towards a world where all violence is history...

"We are certainly the greatest military power in the history of the world, but our truest strength is in our people. Therefore, I appeal to each of you today, to do everything possible to help your neighbors, to volunteer, and above all, to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Historically, our consumption of oil has represented our Achilles heel. We must stop this. I am sending Congress a bill to to mandate higher gas mileages within 3 years..."

Instead, we got a clarion call asking us not to stop shopping.

It was Edmund Burke who warned, at the time of the American Revolution, that "little minds and large empires go ill together". But our emperors were weaned on Wyatt Earp, not Edmund Burke. One is reminded of the old poem, For want of a nail, a shoe was lost... I think the poem ends with, ...the kingdom was lost! . Substitute chad for nail , and republic for kingdom , and you have a pretty good description of our times.

Niranjan Ramakrishnan is a writer living in the United States. He can be reached at [email protected] .


 



 


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