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Racial Profiling and History Tests
That is.... it would until all those non-blonde haired, non-blue eyed, non-white, non-Christians in Blue voting States get fed up, revolt, and manage to get the reins of power back.
Then, take a wild guess who'd be rounded up, pistol whipped and sent to an internment camp somewhere in the Aleutians…
The Declaration of Independence states,
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Note the reference to all men—not just those of a particular ethnicity, religion, or worldview. The earliest settlers who founded the American nation came here fleeing religious persecution at the hands of those who considered their ideas to be “dangerous” enough to merit “relaxing some freedoms”. They dreamed of a land where no one—no one—had to live without basic inalienable human rights because of their race, culture, or beliefs. So they set out across the Atlantic to create one.
And they succeeded. The shot hear round the world is still loudly and effectively ricocheting. It’s up to us to see that it continues doing so. But this is going to take a lot more than bombs and “Support Our Troops” bumper stickers. Sooner or later we have to win the hearts and minds of the other 5.9 billion human souls on this planet and inspire them to embrace freedom and justice for all in their communities. We cannot expect to succeed in this if the “freedom” we practice at home is selective and easily dispensed with when it becomes inconvenient or unsafe. How else can we expect the rest of the world to take us seriously as ambassadors for democracy? And if they don’t, do we really believe that all the military spending, invasions, and Gitmo torture rooms are going to convince them? We cannot afford to be making enemies faster than we can kill them.
Invasion of privacy, unreasonable search and seizure, denial of due process… torture: Do we believe these things are evil? Do we desire a world that is free of them?
Then we shouldn’t practice them on our own soil. Period!
Benjamin Franklin once said,
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
There are those who believe that “patriotism” means giving up someone else’s essential liberty to purchase their temporary safety. Where I come from we have another word for this sort of thing—cowardice. I cannot speak for the Ann Coulters, Rush Limbaughs, or history test authors of this world, but to my mind there is no better way to support our troops than to be faithful to freedom and justice for all here at home while they are overseas in harm’s way defending it—even if that means putting myself in harm’s way with them at the airport. Personally, if I were overseas being shot at in 110 degree heat (or for that matter, huddled in an Iraqi home while my neighborhood and loved ones were being bombed back to the Stone Age by "liberators" who attacked first and read their WMD intelligence reports later) this kind of support would mean far more to me than all the bumper stickers, yellow ribbons, denunciations of "treasonous liberals", and history tests in the world.
At the height of the Cold War no one in the world had perfected the art of internal security better than the former Soviet Union… and no other country was less at risk for domestic or international terrorism. So what! Is that supposed to impress me? Today the former Soviet States are just as much at risk for international terrorism as anyone else—just ask the residents of Beslan, Russia.
So how many Russians do you think there are who just can't wait to reinstate the former USSR and be "safe" again?
I thought so....
References
Durant, W. 1980. The Story of Civilization, Vol. VI: The Reformation. Simon & Schuster . ISBN: 0671610503. Available online at www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671610503/qid=1129187166/sr=8-10/ref=pd_bbs_10/002-1584026-5068811?v=glance&s=books&n=507846.
Program on International policy Attitudes (PIPA). 2004. The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters. Center on Policy Attitudes (COPA), Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland. October 21, 2004. Available online at www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/IraqRealities_Oct04/IraqRealities%20Oct04%20rpt.pdf.
Questionaire at www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/IraqRealities_Oct04/IraqRealities%20Oct04%20quaire.pdf.
Press Release at www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/IraqRealities_Oct04/IraqRealities%20Oct04%20pr.pdf. Accessed April 10, 2005.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 1996; 1997; 1998; 1999; 2000/2001. Terrorism in the United States. FBI Online. All annual reports available online at www.fbi.gov/resources/library. Accessed Feb 17, 2017 (updated).
Exhibit A
HISTORY TEST
Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test. The events are actual cuts from past history. They actually happened!!!
Do you remember?
- In 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by,
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