(Update: Commenting was broken for a while, but it should be working again.)

Dear Readers,

Quick: Name your senators! Now name your mayor! Good job! (I’m going to pretend you got those.) Now: Name the United States’ current generals. No fair googling.

Most of you probably can’t do it, right? Funny thing is, there’s at least one people out there where people are more inclined to be keeping up with who’s leading their armed forces than representing their municipality. It’s the Israelis.

I’d like you to keep that in the back of your mind for a moment, because I want to start off today’s discussion with a copy of a little speech I really love. It’s from a book entitled V For Vendetta, by Alan Moore. Set the stage with me: pretend you’re watching a television set. Suddenly your program is interrupted and you find yourself staring at a terrorist, who blinks back at you from within the screen. The terrorist smiles under his mask and, sighing as he sits down behind a desk, says this:

“Hello. I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve called you here this evening. Well, you see, I’m not entirely satisfied with your performance lately. I’m afraid your work’s been slipping and… And, well, I’m afraid we’ve been thinking about letting you go.

“Oh, I know, I know. You’ve been with the company a long time now. Almost-… Let me see… Almost ten thousand years! My word, doesn’t time fly? It seems like only yesterday… I remember the day you commenced your employment, swinging down from the tree, fresh-faced and nervous. A bone clasped in your bristling fist.

“‘Where do I start, sir?’ you asked plaintively. And I remember my exact words:

“‘There’s a pile of dinosaur eggs over there, Youngster,’ I said… ‘Get sucking.’

“Well, we’ve certainly come a long way since then, haven’t we? And yes, yes, you’re right. In all that time you haven’t missed a day. Well done, Thou Good and Faithful Servant. Also, please don’t think I’ve forgotten about your outstanding service record, or about all the invaluable contributions that you’ve made to the company. Fire, The Wheel, Agriculture… It’s an impressive list, Old-Timer. A jolly impressive list.

“But… Well, to be frank, we’ve had our problems too. There’s no getting away from it. Do you know what I think a lot of it stems from? I’ll tell you : it’s your basic unwillingness to get on with the company. You don’t seem to want to face up to any real responsibility, or to be your own boss. Lord knows you’ve been offered plenty of opportunities. We’ve offered you promotion time and time again, and each time you’ve turned us down.

“‘I couldn’t handle the work, Guv’nor,’ you wheedled. ‘I know my place.’

“To be frank, you’re not trying, are you? You see, you’ve been standing still far too long, and it’s starting to show in your work. And, I might add, in your general standard of behaviour. The constant bickering on the factory floor has not escaped my attention. Nor the recent bouts of rowdiness in the staff canteen.

“Then of course there’s-… Hmm. Well, I didn’t really want to bring this up, but… Well, I’ve been hearing some disturbing rumours about your personal life. No, never mind who, no names, no pack drills. I understand that you are unable to get along with your spouse. I hear that you argue. I am told that you shout. Violence has been mentioned. I am reliably informed that you always hurt the one you love, the one you shouldn’t hurt at all.

“And what about the children? It’s always the children who suffer, as you’re well aware. Poor little mites. What are they to make of it? What are they to make of your bullying, your despair, your cowardice and all your fondly nurtured bigotries?

“Really, it’s not good enough, is it? And it’s no good blaming the drop in work standards on bad management, either, though to be sure, the management is very bad. In fact, let’s not mince words… The management is terrible! We’ve had a string of embezzlers, frauds, liars and lunatics making a string of catastrophic decisions. This is a plain fact.

“But who elected them? It was you! You who appointed these people! You who gave them the power to make your decisions for you! While I’ll admit that anyone can make a mistake once, to go on making the same lethal errors century after century seems to me nothing short of deliberate. You have encouraged these malicious incompetents who have made your working life a shambles. You have accepted without question their senseless orders. You have allowed them to fill your workspace with dangerous and unproven machines. You could have stopped them. All you had to say was ‘No.’

“You have no spine. You have no pride. You are no longer an asset to the company.

“I will, however, be generous. You will be granted two years to show me some improvement in your work. If at the end of that time you are still unwilling to make a go of it… You’re fired.

“That will be all. You may return to your labours.”

A MYTH

What always amuses me when I read that speech is its author is a Leftist. What also always gives me pause when I read it, though, is that unlike the seemingly infinite accusations I so often hear thrown at us Americans, I have to admit this one is right: we as a people are responsible for the actions of our government, and as such, we are valid targets of terrorist retaliation. Unless you are a total pacifist, then, the attacks of September 11th were not inappropriate.

Let me explain. Mainly due to a Western sense of honorable conduct, we’ve long separated the population of warring countries into two separate categories: Combatants and Noncombatants. Combatants are fair game, says our common wisdom, and Noncombatants aren’t. Noncombatants shouldn’t suffer, for either or both of two reasons: (1) They aren’t responsible for the actions of their government and (2) warring competitors have mutually agreed to this rule, to mitigate suffering incurred in their struggle.

Now, the second reason immediately fails if one of the competitors simply decides not to agree to play by those rules. You can’t have a one-sided agreement. As for the first rule, it’s a lie designed to perpetuate a perception of existing institutions’ immortality, of governments’ illogical independence from their own people. The truth is that every citizen of every nation on this planet is responsible for his or her respective government.

Let’s take America for example, since most of us on this site are of that nationality. Our taxes support the United States government’s expenditures and our willing compliance with its laws gives it authority. Whenever we learn some Saudi prince has supported a terrorist organization, don’t we interpret this as a a sign of that person’s culpability in the organization’s acts of terrorism? Yes; and rightly so! One cannot divest one’s self from responsibility for the acts of any entity one is supporting, financially or otherwise. We should therefore (and some of us do) accept our own responsibility in the actions of our government.

So back to September 11th, 2001: The Muslim terrorists responsible for the attacks of this day claim, as their motivation, our support of Israel and intrusion of our products and worldview into their countries. And they’re correct: The American government does support Israel (and I’m glad for it), and American society has introduced alien concepts into their cities which some Muslims consider sinful (not that I care; I don’t respect Islam, much less Islamists who can’t keep to their faith when Reality isn’t exactly like they want it). Who’s responsible? Why, could it be the people who have been funding the American government and participating in the capitalist revolution? Those private, noncombatant citizens of America?

Absolutely. Even if we don’t think we’re doing anything wrong (I don’t), we’re obviously the willing power behind the offensive throne.

A quick digression: When I say “willing”, Folks, I mean exactly that. Even if you are a “Yellow Dog” Democrat, you are a willing facilitator of the conquering of Iraq, just as Republicans were willing facilitators of President Clinton’s actions in Bosnia. This is because we comply with our government’s behaviour even if we did not vote for the government presiding over us, as subjecting ourselves to the will of the majority is in itself a choice. Or, to put it another way: Just because everyone had a say in deciding on a policy does not make that policy any more moral than if only one person chose it.

• Participation in the Democratic process does not validate the abdication of your responsibility for the results of that same process. Therefore, voting is not enough.

That pretty much cements the major point of this sheet:

• The average citizen is as morally and logically valid a target in any conflict as a soldier. Therefore, we are all combatants.

THE OBVIOUS EXAMPLE

So what does this mean, in practice? I think the truth is, we’ve already seen what it means. Consider this with me by examining two semi-recent incidents of terrorism.

First, who remembers when the USS Cole was attacked? According to DefenseLINK News, the terrorists who attacked that ship managed to kill seventeen American servicemen. They also injured more than three dozen others.

What was the American response to this attack on our military? Well, naturally everyone made a nice, big fuss about it. But let’s analyze the reaction through the prism of an old axiom: that “Actions speak louder than words.” Action-wise, our response was practically mute. It’s pretty well-known that President Clinton made a non-effort to exact vengeance, and this is not a condemnation of him for it. If we had been really upset by it, he wouldn’t have dared to wrist-slap those responsible. What politicians accomplish is, as a rule, a barometer of the apathy or passion the Public.

So why weren’t we upset? That’s pretty obvious, too: Hey, c’mon, it was only just our military. What’s more, it was a scratch on our military. Seventeen men dead and thirty-something booboos? We could afford to ignore that.

Fast-forward to September 11th: Over 2,000 Americans are dead and we, Joe and Jane Public, are scared to death and dumbstruck. Terrorists are trying to kill us! So powerful is the response, and the resulting pressure for our politicians to work together, that it fuels the invasion of two countries. No wrist-slap here, because the Public cares. For a while, we’re Combatants, in the line of fire, and now we demand something actually be done.

American response to the USS Cole attack was the product of a noncombatant mindset. Response to the attacks on September 11th, 20o1, was the result of a combatant mindset.

That brings me back to the start of this article.

Israelis know the names of their generals because in a country where you could be slaughtered any second, the Public cares about who its generals are. Would that we Americans cared so much.

OUR GUILT?

But hold on: the consequences of having a combatant mindset aren’t negative. Besides the great benefit of having politicians actually try to fix our problems (like the millions of illegal immigrants we get), there’s also more than a little bit of guilt we can safely toss off and over our shoulder. This is my last big point for today:

Just as we Americans should expect to be targeted for our government’s actions, so should the suppliers, fence-sitting neighbors, and wives of terrorists.

Don’t get me wrong and think I’m not glad we Americans show restraint. I’m glad we do our best to minimize “collateral damage”. It’s pretty telling of just how great a country America is that we are willing to show mercy and give the people of Iraq a second chance, by trying our best to only take out the Baathists they’ve allowed to purcolate for years.

But with that said, this talk by protestors of our killing “innocents” as we do hunt down these terrorists is just as much hogwash as is the idea that Osama Bin Laden was morally reprehensible in not only attacking our military structures. Neither is the case. The Middle East is the way it is today because of one simple cause, and that is the people who live there. Remember that it wasn’t always a hellhole. Once upon a time, Muslim civilization was the most advanced in the world. I am sure Muslims would like to take credit for that, and I’m pleased to give it to them, but they can take responsibility for degenerating into their current state as well.

• Saddam Hussein is not ultimately to blame. The people of Iraq, with the exception of those who have been brave enough to resist Hussein at various points in time, are.

FINAL THOUGHTS & CHRISTIAN QUESTIONS

First, some of you may think this is a very harsh view. I don’t think so. One can help others without pretending that those others are not responsible for themselves.

And to me, that’s what has always made the New Covenant of Christ such a fantastic and perfect act of love. You know, Readers, that we are required by God only to repent and accept His offering of mercy, to try to live as He wishes. This has always fascinated me, that as a Christian the only escape from our sins-and not their consequences, mind you-is to own up. This cosmic amnesty deal is almost an equation: Without the repentance, i.e. without accepting Reality (we are sinners in need of God’s grace), there can be no salvation.

Similarly, we Americans are not accomplishing all that we can to secure ourselves (saving ourselves, at least physically) because we do not, as a people, accept Reality (that we are entirely responsible for our government, even if our own wishes are almost completely ignored by it).

Secondly: I honestly have no idea what all this stuff I’ve written here means. I believe it’s logically sound, but “actions speak louder than words.” I’ve spoken words, but I don’t know what the corresponding action should be.

Where do the Biblical admonitions “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword”, “Render unto Caesar”, and “[no government] has any authority but that which is given them” fall in a Christian’s relationship to his or her government?

I don’t know yet, but then, that’s what Theocrats.com is really about: learning, discussing, and growing. So as always we look forward to your thoughts, and we are honored by your presence at our site.

‘Till next time, ‘Crats and Rats.

Yours On Occasion,

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