Sunday, January 15, 2012

Des DownUnder On Sundays

By Desmond Rutherford | Adelaide, Australia -- Say Can You See The American Empire
The U.S.A.'s place in the world and its influence on other nations and cultures is not only apparent in the wars of the 20th century but goes right back to their Declaration of Independence.
The concepts of freedom and individualism are paramount, predominant and prevailing in all the documents associated with the U.S. Constitution. The idea, that a government of the people, by the people and for the people could be successful in ensuring the liberty and respect for each other as human beings in pursuit of happiness, has spread to many throughout the world.
The leaders and politicians of many nations and governments do not yet understand what this actually means for the future of the species, in global terms. They have not comprehended the nature of freedom as a basic inherent personal and individual human right. Neither do those politicians or the leaders trust the people to make autonomous decisions which are in the best interests of the members of their nations. This trust was the actual foundation of the American Constitution; that the people would act and govern in a way that encouraged freedom, goodness and respect for each other.
The American people, in each of the states, must make a decision; either follow the intent of the Constitutional documents, or abandon them as a failed attempt to advance the human race beyond the boundaries of war, selfishness and belligerence.
The current attitudes expressed by the conservative candidates for the upcoming Presidential election clearly reveal that they have misconstrued, deliberately or through ignorance, the concept of governing by law which respects individual freedom. Many of the candidates, if not most, display absurd disregard for universal human rights and equality under the law, particularly where minorities, like LGBTQ citizens, are affected. They would rather exercise, under the guise of law, restrictions on our people for the sake of their own religious beliefs, or, as is so often obvious, for their personal accumulation of wealth and power.
That they do this with complete disregard for the poverty they create is monstrous.
That they do it whilst bemoaning the state of the deprived is hypocrisy beyond sanction.
That they do this whilst praying for the poor is sanctimonious, and an affront to any true follower of Christ's teachings of love and compassion for one's fellow human beings.
"Republicans and other U.S. right wing conservatives are as insane as any of the Caesars were..."
The U.S.A. is not the only nation with a constitutionally documented interest in the recognition of human rights being incorporated equally under law. It is, however, on the brink of becoming yet another nation to abandon the law of equality and freedom, in favour of enshrining political and economic corruption as acceptable cultural values. That it should do so under threat of reinstating the Christian version of the laws of the Abrahamic God as the law of the land, is tantamount to the ancient Roman Senate appointing the insane asylum, known as the Imperial house of the Caesars, each one of whom became desirous of being regarded as a god. It is an irony that will probably be lost on today's Republicans that with the Roman Senate granting 'extraordinary powers' to Octavian (Augustus Caesar) the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire, unless of course they do know this and the American Empire is their goal.
Political cartoon by Rex Babin, The Sacramento Bee
It can be said with some confidence that the current Republicans and other U.S. right wing conservatives are as insane as any of the Caesars were, and that it is more than possible that they would indeed seek to don the mantle of a God for themselves in the palace of the White House if it were not for the U.S. Constitution. The fact that the Constitution can be altered is not unknown to them.
Right now the world is in danger of having one of the most powerful influences for human progress and protection of human rights being diminished, not in military might but in its ability to abide by progressive civilised concepts of the humanist secular state. Already, regressive legislation has changed the nature of the protections once thought to be safeguarded by the Constitution, not only of the U.S.A., but other countries as well. Some of these regressions have yet to be rejected by the courts, but frighteningly, judges are not safe from being deposed by united conservative forces.
Fortunately for humanity, some other nations are starting to assess the benefits of democracy, or are adopting it, despite their quite large populations being under the rule of questionable, restrictive and alternative, theocratic, despotic or communist regimes. Those nations will be influenced, one way or another, by the outcome of the 2012 U.S.A. elections; not necessarily in the best interests of their peoples or even all people.
So the question of decision remains for the people of the United States of America, but it is not a simple choice between the Democrats and the Republicans. If the Republicans appear to be promoting mass insanity in defiance of reason, and with disregard for the Constitution, then the Democrats are subject to criticism for not defending the human values they say they champion. It is here that President Obama must not just be encouraged and supported, but pressured to understand that bipartisan compromises with the insane are madness for the whole nation, poisoning the freedoms of mankind globally.
Our freedoms are being threatened; our freedom of thought, speech, our recognition of equality human rights for all, our intrinsic rights as human beings to express consensual love for each other sexually.
The American people have a choice between the positive, enlightened concepts of separation of religion and state, of combating the increasing political and economic corruptions, or choosing to revert to what will effectively be the Old World style dominionist rule, by monarch and God; something which the New World of America was supposed to replace for the sake of human equality, freedom, and progress.
The promise, the vision, the dream of America cannot survive under the conservative and Republican efforts to make the future resemble what they think the past was, and neither can the rest of the human race. We are a global community now, even if we do have diverse cultural values, and we will all survive or suffer together.
That doesn't mean people should be deprived of their religion. It does mean they must not try to enforce their religion on those for whom such beliefs are an anachronism, or anyone else for that matter.
Otherwise, welcome to the New Inquisition, heralding the new Dark Ages of Ignorance - The American Empire...'under God'.
Oh, say it won't be...

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