User talk:Chance McGuire

   THE DUALITY OF TERROR: TODAY AND TOMORROW

America is now embarked upon a war against those who believe we are the source of all the world's ills, that we are the reason they live in unimaginable poverty and distress under the rule of brutal dictators, warlords or criminal thugs, whose only goal is power and wealth. Power and wealth at the expense of millions of human beings. I have always believed the most obscene of human transactions is the one which formulaically exchanges power and wealth for a few for the universal destitution of the poor, the sick, the elderly, and the young, committing millions of people to a life devoid of even the dream, the fantasy, of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

But I categorically reject that America is the source of all the world's problems. That we are the 'masters of the world' from whom all evil emanates. A short history of the Twentieth Century and the truth exposes the idiocy of that distortion of reality. It is not my purpose here to present a laundry list the criminals of the last century who were directly responsible for the deaths of well over two hundred and fifty million human beings, a number too vast for anyone to begin to comprehend. The United States, flawed and, at times, destructive to both human lives and the human spirit, remains, by far, the pre-eminent force for good both within and without its borders. We are not good at aggression, as the Vietnam debacle well illustrates. Global expansionism and aggression are not our national forte.

We must now recognize that we are the most powerful country or empire written history has ever witnessed. We have by far the most powerful army, economy, amassed wealth, freedom and quality of life for the majority of our citizens than any other preceding civilization. We have no competitors who could challenge our present supremacy. This position can vanish as quickly as it has blossomed, however. Our supremacy, both real and perceived, is a source of deep religious, national, ethnic and political hatred and envy of many of the peoples of the world. George Bush asked "Why do they hate us?" A simple minded question on its surface, but in reality a very complex one. Contrary to most complex questions, this one has a simple answer. Because we "are."

No matter has many qualitative, quantitative, objective or subjective analyses think tanks produce, the final analysis is simply we are reviled by most of the world is because of our fortuitous geography, our land of immigrants fleeing oppression, war, famine and annihilation; our land of the children of slaves who helped build this country with their blood and tears and yet still bear the greatest impact of bigotry; our land stolen by us from those who preceded us, but in a show of personal and national angst, are forever "noble" in our mythical psyche; yes, this country not only has survived, but has flourished beyond every expectation. We have destroyed every enemy who sought to end our power and freedom. We have destroyed them in the use of ferocious and unremitting total war, whatever the cost in young men, capital, and the twins of the apocalypse, technology and weaponry. We must do so, because we know if democracy and the rarest of all realized desires and dreams of mankind, freedom, genuine human freedom, will be destroyed if we do not.

If our freedom and democracy are destroyed, the world will be plunged into a place where brutality, tribal warfare, genocide, warrior states, and criminal, poorly organized 'central governments' will rule by the whim of every sociopath who can muster the power to brutalize people into submission. The outcome of our destruction will be horrors of biblical proportions; they will spread across the earth unimpeded. I speak not only of the Mid-East, but of Africa, Europe, the Near East and the Far East, as well. We must fight this rising tide or risk the future of man upon earth. This war must have an end, however. In order to end it, or at the very least, weaken the enemy to the point of insignificance, we must look deep into the soul of our national psyche.

At the end of the Twentieth Century about 13 percent or 33,600,000 American citizens lived below the poverty line. The "poverty line" for the year of 1998 was determined to be $16,660 for a family of four, or $13,003 for a family of three, by The United States Government. I will ask the reader to suffer the embarrassment to find out what the poverty line was for two people and individuals during 1998. I say this because every American should be ashamed by these numbers. We are the wealthiest, most free, and most powerful nation on the face of the earth, yet we have allowed this national disgrace to continue.These percentages have remained relatively constant since 1959 when the Federal Government began to collect and disseminate this data. There is a permanent, large group of American citizens who suffer the cruelty of permanent poverty and all that desperate poverty withers, for well over a half century. We all have known the disparity between the wealthy and the poor grows every minute of every day.

The concentration of wealth is staggering, especially since the there is, for all practical purposes, no estate tax. Since 1980, the capital gains tax has been cut in half and the income tax on the wealthiest Americans has decreased from 70% to 30%. Thus, we can only expect these numbers to increase: percentage of whites below poverty level, 11.3%, blacks, 32.7%, children, 14.2%, Hispanics, 26.2%, and the elderly,10.5%. It is within these numbers that the most serious threat to our national security lives and grows, until in a day not far off, we will find them the most dangerous enemies of American democracy and freedom. We must recognize that the state of the world and the state of our country are parallel universes: the free and chained, the hungry and the fat, and the three cars, four televisions and the impossibility of ever receiving medicine.

The United States must embark upon a carefully planned and well thought out redistribution of wealth. There must be a maximum placed upon earned income. We must end the notion that unearned wealth passes from generation to generation. A cap must be placed upon inherited wealth. It can only bring out the best in us all. I do not advocate that we should 'eat the rich' but rather that immutable caps be put in placed on earned and unearned income. For example, a cap of $1,000,000/year on earned income and $250,000 on unearned income. How much does one have to accumulate to be rich and more importantly, should untold wealth destroy this country? Many young Americans have sacrificed their lives, futures, and aspirations so that our enemies would not prevail. Is it so much to ask the wealthy to cap earnings and inherited or unearned wealth in exchange for the continued existence of freedom, democracy and The United States?

What would the dead American boys of Omaha Beach, of Anzio, of Monte Cassino, of The USS Arizona, of The Hurtgen forest, of Iwo Jima, of Bataan, of Dakto, of the Tet Offensive, of Khe Sanh, of the DMZ, of Pork Chop Hill, of Inchon, of the frozen Chosin Reservoir, of the trenches of Mons, of the Meusse and Argonne, of Iraq, and Afghanistan answer? Who could imagine that death awaited so many amongst us, in the World Trade Center, the planes, and the Pentagon? Vaporized, ripped from life without warning, nor enmity to their murderers. Now each one of us must take personal responsibility, not diffused responsibility, to destroy those who seek to destroy us simply because we "are." This time will end and then we must turn to our national sickness, for it is here that our greatness lives or perishes.

A distribution of wealth would allow all those trapped in squalor, who have no future, whose dreams will always remain dreams, to enjoy what most of us take for granted. Transportation, recreation, health care, clothes, warmth in the winter and ice cubes in the summer and perhaps, just perhaps, a two week vacation. The redistribution of wealth would free over 30,000,000 Americans from the chains of poverty, and allow them to become a part of the reality of the American dream. The redistribution of wealth would create a guaranteed annual income of perhaps $25,000/year for every man, women, and child. After all, the wealthy will still receive their unearned Income of $250,000/year. They would still be very rich. In this plan lies our salvation as a nation who cared about all of its citizens, not just the lucky amongst us. It would free millions to contribute, sacrifice, and represent the best steel to guarantee of the continued existence of The United States. We will be a the most powerful light the world has ever seen, and become the greatest and most liberating influence upon mankind the world has ever witnessed. We hold in our hands the keys which can show all the world what is possible. It is a wondrous opportunity for the Second American Revolution to be a transcendent revolution, a revolution of grace and freedom. We are at the most critical point in the world's short history. What will we do?

The remaking of America in such a manner as I have briefly described will send a signal to the world, that all is possible, everything can be achieved. This is how peace may prevail, and it represents an opportunity for the rest of the world to admire us, just as they must admire themselves as they reach for democracy and freedom in these most troubled of times.