Rebuilding America

09/18/2006

Paul Munnis

More than two thousand years ago a young man from Israel who lived among Islamists in a land of war and conflict, explained carefully to people how to manage the mid-east and its mind-set. That person was Jesus of Nazareth and he gave us the formula for dealing with hate, violence, and war. His message is: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” the message then goes on to say: “Love your enemies as yourself and forgive your enemies of their trespasses.” Many claim to understand and support this message and yet their actions do not reflect that ethos. Ours is a world of vendetta based on past deeds like getting even for the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. If we are stuck in vendetta for atonement of the past then like Islam we cannot move forward to our destiny and our future. We become socially moribund—just like our enemies.

I am not advocating a return to “Flower Power,” yet I do note that our national symbol is that of an eagle, holding both arrows and olive branches. The arrows represent a strong military and the olive branches represent a proper foreign policy backed by diplomacy. Our national motto is: “In God We Trust.”

I am concerned that both diplomacy and our military are failing us and it is because we are not sticking true to our heritage and our beliefs.

In the area of foreign policy we seem to have a pretty pitiful view of the world: “Disagree with us and we’ll kill you or lock you up and torture you as a terrorist.” What we need is a policy of open channels to our adversaries, a willingness to work to resolve our issues, and a Judeo-Christian approach to international negotiations. The latter is best represented by determination to do the needed social work abroad and to create a climate of love for America rather than of hate. Frankly I am disappointed that the Pope is not fully taking the opportunity of this strife with Islam to state these principles as a matter of basic Christian thought and as principles of basic Christian living. That Islam is listening to the Pope is not in question but is the Pope listening to something other than his own agenda is yet another question that only he can answer through both words and deeds.

When it comes to our military we need to rebuild it and to modernize it. The equipment we have in Iraq is now worn and outdated. The kind of conflicts that we face today are more like Guerilla War and less like the WWI and WWII types of conflict. We need to craft a foreign policy and then equip our military to carry out that foreign policy. We need to rethink the nature of the contracts with our service men and women and the hierarchy of military commitments assuring that they are in alignment with our national interests.

We also need to face the facts about America and its parents. Today, American families do not want to see the draft reinstituted. Voters do not want their sons and daughters lead off to be cannon-fodder. Americans want it both ways: freedom and domination of world affairs, but all at no personal cost. It’s not possible and we need a national dialog to get that straight. War must not be about Empire or Oil; instead war must be about things worth really fighting and dying for and we need to describe these clearly and make them corner-stones of our national and foreign policy. We need American parents to carefully think through what is worth sacrificing their children for. If the answer is “Nothing,” then we suggest that they relocate to a neutral country like Switzerland.

Most Americans understand that Mr. Bush is not part of the solution but is a part of the problem. We need to move beyond Bush and start a national discussion of what we demand of our next President and their Administration. Even as the 2006 election is entering the home-stretch it is time to look to 2008 and to discover our collective national political voice. Then we need to elect a Chief Executive and a Congress that will represent that voice. The 2006 election gives us Democrats a chance to audition for the job. If we are elected and lead responsibly then considering us to hold the Executive Branch of government becomes a viable option for 2008 for the electorate.