Spare Change

America's New Civil War

Posted by Bryan

Not long ago, there was a poorly-conceived and unsuccessful law suit aimed at removing the words "under God" from America's Pledge of Allegiance, which reads:

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Interestingly, though, even more recent events have shown that the "under God" prepositional phrase doesn't appear to be nearly so troublesome to the collective conscience of left-leaning idealogues (both domestic and global) as are the presence of other hotbutton words; namely, "indivisible," "liberty," "justice," and the really controversial prepositional phrase "for all."

The left's hostility has manifested as mealy-mouthed duplicitous verbiage since the onset of the Iraq war (and even prior), where terms like "support for the troops" rolled off one tine of their forked tongues while contradictory statements of "occupation," "quagmire," and "Bush is Hitler" fell from the other.

Now, the statements are less gracious on the side of wishing for the best, and more given to proclivities of anti-American apologetics. President Bush has been lambasted for his seasoning his inaugural address with a heavy dose of "liberty" and "freedom," like he be so incredibly out of line for suggesting that these twin pillars of civic aspirations are territorial possessions not to be liberally shared.

Triumphant expressions of both liberty and freedom have been displayed this past weekend with the elections in Iraq, yet the left crowd seems eager to dismiss the awesome, historic events as illegitimate. Ask the 94 percent of expatriates who voted, some travelling 12 hours just for the right to do so, whether or not they are illegitimate. Ask the many, many citizens of Iraq who risked their lives to cast their vote, declaring that they would give their lives to do so if necessary. That a Sunni force largely involved with the "insurgency" (which all sane people more accurately describe as "terrorism") largely chose not to involve themselves in the democratic event does not illegitimize it, but simply identifies their polarized stance and affirms the absolutely vital need for democracy in that region.

What is awesome and incredible and dare not be lost amidst all this is that Americans - brave Americans - are in fact giving their lives for this precious freedom that Iraqis are tasting for the first time in their lives. Pfc. James H. Miller IV gave his life so that Iraqi people could have their own, and that their lives would be marked by freedom, liberty, and justice for all. He paid the sacrifice of his life so that the people of Iraq would not be constrained or oppressed any longer by the jack boot of tyranny and terror. His sacrifice should be honored and celebrated, and Pfc. Miller, and literally the hundreds of other Coalition casualties deserves the respect of being hailed as heroes to the Iraqi people.

The media representing mindset of the left that is seemingly embarrassed by America's bold plan at advancing democracy wants to misrepresent the good work that our soilders, our diplomats, and our President are accomplishing. Their agenda-driven reporting is propagandist in nature and is subversively idealogical in its expression. Their "reporting" has become interpretive analysis filtered through their lens of understanding which by default assumes not only the worst in Americans, but in a wrong-minded general belief that all the world agrees. This gives rise to the thought that Iraqis voted not for freedom and liberty, but to expel the "American occupying force." This misreprentation of the facts is egregious and borders on treachery.

All of this gives rise at home to what can only be described as America's new Civil War. I'm not given to hyperbole, so this term is used reluctantly and as a cautionary. Right now, the debate is civil, relatively speaking, but it is growing decreasingly so. Look at the actions of protesters at the GOP convention, as well as the Presidential Inauguration. America is a simmering boil right now, and the left's rhetoric attempts to divide that which our own pledge identifies as indivisible.

I hope this discontented debate never extends beyond a tipping point of violence. but I have no hope in human nature. We're already seeing vitreol spat out in poisonous bursts, hinting to a devastating potential. Open hostility to the right, particularly to the evangelical right, is rampant and increasingly demagogic. Republicans, conservatives, and evangelicals are described as "stupid," "idiots," and "morons." Foundational steps in the justification of violence is the dehumanization of the opposition and establishment of a moral hierarchy that elevates selfish ideologies. I literally pray that the Lord protects us from ourselves, and that violence is not intellectually legitimized, thus giving way to violent chaos.

Make no mistake, the heart of America is the quarry. America's democracy works because all sides have a voice, even when only party has the power of office. This is the gift that America is attempting to extend to the world. In these tumultuous times, though, we have a presence from the left that seems to think it "patriotic" to villifiy our heroes and to unnecessarily apologize for our democratic ideologies that celebrate the liberties of all humans. We need to make no apologies for "freedom." We need not be embarrassed of advocating "liberty." We dare not shy away from pursuing "justice."

Capitulating or appeasing the left is no more a solution than is the left's belief that we should capitulate or appease the foreign terrorists. Ironically, it is the same freedoms the left enjoys to decry the attempted advance of freedoms as "imperialistic" or "occupational." In the war of ideas, America has proven with her own testimony that "right" isn't just "political," it also most often means "correct," when viewed through the lens of history.

The President just again swore to protect, preserve, and defend the Constitution, which in its Preamble states:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

His job is to lead us to do the things which pursue the goals of:

• Establishing Justice


• Insuring domestic tranquility


• Promoting general welfare

These efforts will secure the blessings of liberty to us and those who generationally follow, that our Union may be more perfect. We live in an unprecendeted age where the last two items on this list are demostically dependent upon an international emphasis on the first.

Americans have co-existed for almost 229 years, some more peacefully than others. We've not yet even reached the halfway-point in Rome's celebrated lifespan. For the sake of ourselves and our Posterity, may we continue to seek a course of history that advances American ideals, but may we all have opened eyes to our potential's true obstacles and America's true enemies.

January 31, 2005 2:02 PM