Bill Ayers is a Patriot, John McCain is a Jingo
As a veteran of the Vietnam War and an anti-war activist after I was honorably discharged, I have a hands-on insight into the motives and actions of both sides of that conflict. The Vietnam War, like the current Iraq War, defines the United States. Bill Ayers and John McCain are examples of the two extremes.
On the positive side, the United States was the first nation to implement the values, ideals and principles of the Enlightenment. Foremost among those principles is that the law, not the monarch, is sovereign. In enlightened nations, this is called patriotism. At the other end is 600 million years of evolution that tell us to form into a herd and blindly and mindlessly follow the herd alpha leaders. This is jingoism and is one of our most powerful animal instincts.
The Constitution requires the Congress to draw up articles of war and pass them before a legal state of war exists. That was not done for the Vietnam or Iraq conflicts. Both wars were illegal. Both were criminal. Like all military personnel, John McCain took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. By flying missions in a foreign land and killing people and destroying their property, he was in violation of his oath, the Constitution and international laws.
Ayers’ position was not as clear. As a member of the Weather Underground, he was breaking minor laws by bombing buildings in order to halt hideous crimes against humanity and genocide orchestrated by his government. The government no longer represented the laws or enlightened ideals. It acted lawlessly. It became a rogue state. In a democracy, the people are obligated to intervene. Thomas Jefferson anticipated this crisis and said the tree of liberty must be watered from time to time with blood.
Our animal instincts tell us that threatening the cohesion of the herd is the worst possible threat, far worse than committing genocide or aggression. Since the jingoes far outnumber the patriots in the U.S., Bill Ayers is considered a criminal, and John McCain is viewed as a hero.
On the positive side, the United States was the first nation to implement the values, ideals and principles of the Enlightenment. Foremost among those principles is that the law, not the monarch, is sovereign. In enlightened nations, this is called patriotism. At the other end is 600 million years of evolution that tell us to form into a herd and blindly and mindlessly follow the herd alpha leaders. This is jingoism and is one of our most powerful animal instincts.
The Constitution requires the Congress to draw up articles of war and pass them before a legal state of war exists. That was not done for the Vietnam or Iraq conflicts. Both wars were illegal. Both were criminal. Like all military personnel, John McCain took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. By flying missions in a foreign land and killing people and destroying their property, he was in violation of his oath, the Constitution and international laws.
Ayers’ position was not as clear. As a member of the Weather Underground, he was breaking minor laws by bombing buildings in order to halt hideous crimes against humanity and genocide orchestrated by his government. The government no longer represented the laws or enlightened ideals. It acted lawlessly. It became a rogue state. In a democracy, the people are obligated to intervene. Thomas Jefferson anticipated this crisis and said the tree of liberty must be watered from time to time with blood.
Our animal instincts tell us that threatening the cohesion of the herd is the worst possible threat, far worse than committing genocide or aggression. Since the jingoes far outnumber the patriots in the U.S., Bill Ayers is considered a criminal, and John McCain is viewed as a hero.
posted by Unknown at 1:36 PM
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