Liberals right but lack courage of conviction

(printed in Washington Times 9-16-07)

Williams Hawkins correctly identifies the ‘liberals’ fears of our nation’s over reacting to terrorism in “Madness beyond the water’s edge” (Friday Sept 14, 2007) and the liberals desire for dealing with terrorism by using the force of “domestic and international law” instead of the chaotic law of force. But, Mr. Hawkins is far off course in thinking liberals “have no allegiance to the society in which they live” and follow the “ideology of class division and hyper-individuality”. Liberals believe in class unity and equality in the global society in which we live.

For us/them there is only one class of people and that is the classification of humanity. It is the conservative worship of an ‘us’ vs ‘them’ world that is the most destructive class division and repudiation of our nations true values. The only degree to which liberals believe in hyper-individuality is the same way conservatives say they value ‘individual freedom’. It is conservatives who are follow Bin Ladin’s footsteps by demanding that everyone conform to the same fundamentalist religious doctrine. It is conservatives who are working to change the US Constitution to force their religious beliefs on others.

The greatest flaw however in Mr. Hawkins belief system is thinking liberal “defeatism confirms the utility of force – when used by the enemy”. The reality is that conservatives ‘militarism confirms the futility of force – when used by the enemy’. It is our war in Iraq that has demonstrated weakness of our nations military in dealing with Bin Ladin’s belief system. It is the conservative’s worship of militarism that actually destroys the most fundamental of all American values -- the utility of the force of law…in protecting the inalienable human rights and the security on which our great nation has prospered.

“The American people have done great things throughout our history” but we have also done some horrific things including institutionalizing slavery and the obliteration of the American Indians. These were accomplished within the conservative framework of nationalism and Christian values. A war of choice in Iraq is only the latest crime against humanity that conservative nationalistic ideology is responsible for. It is a war that continues to serve Osama Bin Ladin’s primary goals of dividing Americans, breaking us economically and generating more converts to his warped global ideological vision.

The greatest thing American people could do in this era of hyper globalization is revert to the idealism of our founding fathers and create a global justice system and rule of law based on the principles of our Declaration of independence…that all people are created equal, no matter where they are born or what religion they believe in…and work for a global federal system that can adequately enforce those rights using the force of law rather than the law of force.

This is where Liberals are the weakest. They don’t follow the power of their own convictions. Most liberals speak boldly of the need to protect human rights but fail to advocate for the global mechanisms that can legally, democratically and effectively enforce them. That is the real madness before the water’s edge.