"Should the minority be the harbinger of how those questions are answered in a democracy, or should the process of elections and voting be the answer? You can't avoid that question and expect to gain wisdom on the questions of war or peace.
What a vacuous question. The answer is...neither. The minority shouldn't decide whether we should go to war and the majority shouldn't decide whether we go to war.
First, read the damn constitution and you'll understand where the power to declare war resides. Under our constitution the Congress of the United States has the sole power to declare war. That process has, however, been perverted by an ever-stronger executive branch which has usurped the power by sometimes calling "war" something else and by running roughshod over a Congress which is too weak-kneed to do more than rubber stamp the decision of the executive branch.
Second, if war is declared then the people have the power to vote in new members of Congress, or threaten to, and thus change those who decided on war. They can also refuse to serve in an all-volunteer service and make their feelings known through polling, free speech and demonstrations. Let's take a look at how that went and where it's headed.
To start with, you need to understand that all of your delight with the early polls that showed that the people approved the war and your continued glee that they voted in Bush to, you claim, "stay the course," fails to comprehend one very critical fact: the "people" cannot intelligently approve or disapprove of a war unless, and until, they have GOOD, HONEST information.
Did the people have the best, most accurately and honestly gathered information? Maybe you haven't been following the Valerie Plame investigation that touches on the fringes of how far these liars were willing to go to prevent the dissemination of that kind of honest, comprehensive information before the last election?
Maybe you don't understand the extent of the effort undertaken by the White House Iraqi Group that included Cheney, Rice, Libby, Rove and others to "sell the war?"
Maybe you don't recall the numerous intelligence officers and former government officials who've stated that the information on wmds provided to Congress and the American public was hyped, distorted and purged of dissenting opinions?
Maybe you don't read the statements of both democratic and republican senators who've publicly stated that if they'd had an accurate assessment of the facts on Iraqi wmds they'd have never voted to give Bush the power to go to war?
Maybe you haven't noticed that a strong majority of Americans are now opposed to the war and want American troops to come home as quickly as is humanely possible, regardless of the success of the latest "mission?"
Maybe you haven't noticed that the latest poll of military personnel found that a majority of THEM don't support the war or approve of Bush's handling of it?
Maybe you haven't noticed that a number of elected congressional Republicans AND Democrats are becoming increasingly fearful that their chances of reelection are dimming rapidly BECAUSE A MAJORITY of the American public is becoming more and more anti-Iraq war?
Or maybe you don't see any of that? Maybe you simply continue to hear what you want to hear and hold deep fears about evil guys doing evil things while you continue to run and rerun the same, tired and false propaganda that the White House Iraqi Group created to "sell the war" to dupes.
Maybe that's you, but you'll soon come to understand that a majority of the Americans are not unwilling or unable to recognize when they've been made fools of. They're angry now and when their anger is felt a lot of their Congressional representatives will learn that the ultimate power to conduct war in this country resides not in the Congress or the office of the President, but rather in the people.
And for war-wimps like you, that's not good news. But for those of us who care deeply about international law and ethics, leading the world toward becoming more civilized, and finding effective ways of resolving conflicts that do actually use lethal force as a last resort, that's a very good thing. Ed |
