The Danger to Democracy Is War Itself

10/02/2007

Editor;

This was in the Star Trib Netlets this AM.

- Charlie Zea



The danger to democracy is Iraq war itself

In watching Ken Burns' documentary "The War," it is chilling to realize how close we Americans are to becoming what our fathers' generation gave their lives to defeat.

In 2007, America is in a war it initiated based on lies, deception and ignorance as to where it would take us. It is supported by a spin machine that utilizes the tactic of repeating a lie so often that it becomes truth in the mind of the electorate. The machine gathers support by exploiting patriotism, fear and hatred. It incorporates the support or acquiescence of religion and has been based on a deliberate policy of dividing our society. The power of government has been exploited in manners never imagined.

This war has seen the development of a separate military force, epitomized by Blackwater, operating outside the control of the regular military and the law. It is propagated by leaders who can't admit mistakes and have a messianic vision of the world that is not influenced by reality, a vision which produced the doctrine that those who opposed us were not combatants but terrorists, less than human, and not protected by the Geneva conventions.

Mortal danger to American democracy from terrorism was the justification for the war. What has evolved is of far greater danger to democracy: the promotion of loyalty to an individual, the president, rather than an institution, the Constitution.

DAVID DETERT, LITCHFIELD, MINN.