The hearts of all sane men

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/8228

The hearts of all sane men
by Robert C. Koehler | Jun 21 2007

snip//

But I linger in anger and wounded silence because, lacking belief in the pretext, stated goals or covert agenda of any of Bush's wars, I have no way to numb myself to their tactics, which, no matter how you frame or justify them, amount to hunting individual Taliban or al-Qaida suspects, in populated areas, with bombs and missiles, all but guaranteeing a high collateral kill count. We've been doing this from the very start. How did we come to believe we had that right?

"The way chosen by the United States (after World War II) was plainly marked by a few clear precepts, which govern its conduct in world affairs. . . . No people on earth can be held, as a people, to be enemy, for all humanity shares the common hunger for peace and fellowship and justice."

This is Dwight David Eisenhower, near the end of the Korean War -- April 1953, addressing the American Society of Newspaper Editors -- seeming to lay down for all time what mattered about America and what sort of hope it brought to Planet Earth. The speech was called "The Chance for Peace." In it, Ike let loose about how fed up he was with the Cold War economy, making a famous cost-benefit analysis:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. . . . The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. . . . We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat."

He went on for a while with such comparisons, finally thundering: "This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

Can we stand so much unbuffered idealism in a single dose? "This is one of those times in the affairs of nations," he said, "when the gravest choices must be made, if there is to be a turning toward a just and lasting peace. It is a moment that calls upon the governments of the world to speak their intentions with simplicity and with honesty. It calls upon them to answer the questions that stirs the hearts of all sane men: Is there no other way the world may live?"

Read it and wince. Whatever turning point we were at 54 years ago has slipped quietly beyond "the hearts of all sane men" and now we hunt evil from the sky, bomb schools and affect surprise at the carnage. This affectation is the last pale remnant of American idealism and morality.

more...

[TwilightGardener]

1. I can't believe the difference, from what the Republican party used to be

to what it is now. From compassionate, forward-thinking patriots like Ike to immoral assclowns--in only a couple generations, too.

[tonkatoy57]

2. Oh Boy

I'd like to read the entire speach.

Those are pretty remarkable comments given the political climate today.

Ignoring for a moment the truth of Eisenhower's comments, what he said is a great illustration of how far to the right politics have been moved in the last 50 years. There are precious few politicians courageous enough to make comments like that today, regardless of their personal beliefs, and none with the stature and world stage that Eisenhower commanded.

This is not a good thing.