{"id":43386,"date":"2014-06-02T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=43386"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:33:48","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:33:48","slug":"beacon-of-freedom-american-exceptionalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/06\/beacon-of-freedom-american-exceptionalism\/","title":{"rendered":"“Beacon of Freedom & American Exceptionalism?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past week as we remembered family and friends killed in war and continue to feel their loss, I was struck with all the hype to induce feelings of blind patriotism.\u00a0 In a Memorial Day speech U.S. President Barrack Obama said the U.S. is a \u201cBeacon of Freedom\u201d to the world, and at West Point on Wednesday [28 May 2014] he hailed his belief in American exceptionalism\u00a0 It reminded me of President George W. Bush saying after 9-11 that the U.S. World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked because they were symbols of ” freedom and democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I would suggest Presidents Obama and Bush need to read the results of recent international Gallup and other well respected polls showing the U.S. as the world’s greatest threat to peace, the most feared country on earth, by a long shot.\u00a0 Pakistan came in a distant second.\u00a0 (http:\/\/www.ibtimes.com\/gallup-poll-biggest-threat-world-peace-america-1525008<\/a>)\u00a0\u00a0 What country has more prisoners, more people locked up, than any country on earth? It’s not Russia or China.\u00a0 It’s the so called “land of the Free” — the U.S.A.\u00a0 As for democracy, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions make clear the U.S. has the best elections money can buy.\u00a0 In addition to Congress authorizing military indefinite detention of U.S. citizens, now President Obama claims he has the imperial authority to be judge, jury and executioner through special ops assassinations, and drone strikes on anyone in the world, including American citizens, that he deems an enemy. What happened to the beacon of freedom, due process, consent of the governed, the right to be secure in your person and property, and other basic rights supposedly guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution?<\/p>\n

The question Presidents Obama, Bush, and all Americans should be asking is why do so many people in the world hate and fear the U.S?\u00a0 Consider the following: The U.S. has between 800-1000 military bases around the world in 150 countries; the U.S. has used military force 120 times against another country since WWII; the U.S. has tried to overthrow 50 countries and grossly interfered in the elections of 30 countries since WWII; the U.S. has bombed civilian populations in 30 countries since WWII including the use of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. (source: www.uslaboragainstwar.org<\/a>)\u00a0 And don’t forget the U.S. illegal overthrow and continuing illegal occupation of the Nation of Hawai’i.<\/p>\n

“Beacon of freedom?” If the U.S. wants to be a beacon of freedom to the world, then put words into action and end the U.S. addiction to militarism. Stop sending the poor to fight and die in rich men wars. Redirect the military budget toward meeting human needs and saving the planet. Demonstrate economic and environmental justice. Do as the prophet Isaiah said: \u201cBeat swords into plowshare and spears into pruning hooks and learn war no more.\u201d (Isaiah 2:4.)\u00a0 Talk is cheap. The time for action is now.\u00a0 Let us begin to live in peace and harmony with one another and all the earth. Human survival hangs in the balance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ground the Drones!\u00a0 Say No to War!<\/strong><\/p>\n