Democracy grown from the barrel of a gun...

I have always liked the fluid nature of reality. I admire its state of flux, its constant inconsistency, such that from one moment to the next it changes and adapts, molds itself to new parameters and demands, is immolated and reborn in the same stroke. But at times it can be troubling, especially during times such as these which demand polarization; you are either an idiot, oblivious and content, or a conscious being filled with confusion and rage and passionate conviction to the idea that something is not right. For instance, lets examine the current state of American foreign policy and geopolitical strategy, which are dominated by the conflagration in Iraq and our shadow war on terrorists.

The "War on Terror" began as a defensive act, it is actually very simple and straight forward with little room for interpretation or semantics. The Joint Resolution for the Authorization of Military Force, which was approved September 18th, 2001 by both the House and Senate, (Public Law 107-40 [S. J. RES. 23]) states:

IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

We don't go to war anymore, haven't for decades, apparently its too hard to actually declare that we are fighting someone, instead we use the more innocuous language of "Authorization of Military Force" as though it is just another tool that we exercise from time to time. This is nothing new, we haven’t actually declared war on a sovereign nation since World War II, but we keep sending young men to die and then build them memorials for wars they didn’t fight, in the legal sense that is. This, however, is not the point.

Recently the President began a series of speeches that are meant to clarify and embolden the American people in our quest to bring democracy to the rest of the world with tanks and fighter jets and M-16A2 rifles and, above all else, wealth. This will swell into a well choreographed crescendo on September 11th that, ostensibly, will finally lay to rest any lingering doubts that we might have about this indeterminate campaign against this nebulous enemy. What is most startling and troubling about these speeches is that we are no longer fighting the War on Terror as a defensive measure, meant to guard against future attacks by identifiable persons or groups, a strategic vision that would give us some measure of progress or victory, but that now we are engaged in an ideological struggle with, “Islamic Fascism”. Figuratively and literally the administration asserts that we are now fighting for the very existence of democratic societies. In a recent speech to the 88th American Legion Convention Bush stated, “They're [Hizbollah, al Qaeda, al-Jamal Islamiya, Hamas, etc…] successors to fascists, to Nazis, to communists and other totalitarians of the 20th century.”

He does not equivocate in his belief that we are engaged in an epic struggle between diametrically opposite and ultimately mutually exclusive philosophies. These philosophies are total opposites and, as such, must struggle against one until and one must emerge victorious. It is the classic Dialectical method; the noble, adventurous and charitable Capitalist project represents the Hypothesis, the argument (or more correctly System) that is to be proven and, as the scientific method would dictate, is being tested against it’s opposite, it confronts the Antithesis, which has now been named Islamo-fascism. What is so devious and problematic with this schema, this clash of Democracy and Islamo-fascism is that the administration, and their supporters in the media, want to define Islamic fascism as both similar to but divergent from the forms of fascism that dominated the 20th century.

But, alas, I have come to the end. This end, however, is simply another beginning…but a beginning for another time.