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REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

12/27/2006

When Dissent Becomes Sedition


(Thanks to my patriot friend, ‘Squantos’, for bringing this excellent essay to my attention.)

A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. … He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist ... Cicero

Times like these focus the mind. The confluence of events from the 9/11 'Day of Infamy' to Afghanistan and now Iraq, has given us a once-in-a-lifetime moment of national clarity. We must take from it every kernel of truth it reveals before that clarity fades with memory.

In war, people die. In some wars, nations die. War, preparations for war and measures to prevent war are the most serious business a nation can conduct. All else is subordinate. The environmentalists would say it’s the environment. Wrong. The social workers would say it’s social programs. Wrong. The health advocates would say it’s health policy. Wrong. The anti-tax crowd would say it’s lower taxes. Still wrong.

Whatever your view on these subordinate issues, as goes the nation, so they go too. Without our wealth-producing market economy, there would be no capital for environmental projects. There would be no funds for social policy. There would be no money for health initiatives or anything else. The first priority of our government must always be national defense.

Somehow, between World War II and 9/11 we forgot this.

Despite the many cries in the wilderness from professionals in the military, intelligence and security fields, we forgot the crucial value of good military and political intelligence. We forgot the absolute necessity of maintaining a top-notch fighting force. We dismissed as paranoid delusion the idea that some people are truly out to get us. We derisively ridiculed seemingly pointless security procedures required at airports and other facilities. We forgot that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

Why?

Perhaps some is due to complacency borne of our geographic isolation and the fact that we have not had a shooting war on our shores for over 138 years. Absent an immediate threat, the natural human tendency is to become complacent. Also, our historical tradition has been to draw down the military after any large conflict. Our founders warned against the dangers of a standing army.

But there is much more to it than that. The political Left in this country, including people in the news media, entertainment, education, religion, think tanks (many of which are fronts for hostile foreign governments and organizations), even some past and present members of Congress and past Administrations, have over the years successfully sought to undermine both our national defense and intelligence functions – indeed the very fabric of our society – for the purpose of ultimately destroying it, all the while hiding behind the fig leaf of 'free speech.' In so doing, they made us vulnerable to attack from directions even they didn’t anticipate. They are still active today, but thanks to our recently revived national spirit, temporarily on the defensive.

It took 9/11 and the subsequent military action for our people to comprehend the ramifications of blinding our national eyes and ears. Today, we find ourselves asking how it got so far out of hand. Few now question the need for active intelligence gathering and a strong military. Indeed, many of those in Congress who used to criticize our intelligence agencies for being too intrusive are now asking why they are not more so. Virtually everybody claims to 'support our troops.'

Yet we still suffer the after-effects of long-term complacency. Anti-American activity seems like some kind of quaint rite. Radical activists are treated like celebrities. Hollywood actors boost their careers and their egos by excoriating our leaders (but they support the troops – really they do).

Over the past 30 years, members of Congress have blatantly aided and abetted enemies of our country. The outspoken Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, for example, lobbied for the release of jailed El Salvadorian FMLN terrorists during that country’s civil war. So did then-Rep. Barbara Boxer, D-CA. Instead of being investigated for her activities on behalf of communists, Nancy Pelosi has been elected by her Democratic colleagues as the House Minority Leader! Boxer went on to become a U.S. Senator.

Many congressmen made a notorious trip to Nicaragua in the 1980s to discuss ways Daniel Ortega’s communist government could counter President Ronald Reagan’s strategy there. Relatives of Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, conducted business with the communist government of Angola while Kennedy himself voted against funding the Angolan anti-communist rebels we supported. Former Rep. Ron Dellums, D-CA, often bragged of his desire to dismantle U.S. intelligence 'brick by brick.' The charming Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, never met a leftist dictator she didn’t love. Don’t even get me started on Bill.

No one has ever challenged these blatantly seditious activities.

Instead, we congratulate ourselves for our 'open-minded' tolerance of this malevolent behavior, never fully acknowledging its long-term impact. Even in Iraq, anti-American protests, obvious propaganda tactics, are casually dismissed as 'free speech.' But is it?

There is a fine line between legitimate protest and outright sedition. There is a fine line between our citizens’ legitimate need for privacy and the opportunity it provides conspirators to hide and plot. Concern for the former, however, provides no excuse for condoning the latter. Too often politicians have taken that excuse, and in so doing abdicated their pledge to "defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic .… " They choose to avoid the hard questions and tough fights. The 9/11 terrorist strike was one consequence of this. If we don’t learn, there will be more.

Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s methods against suspected American communists in the 1950s may have been wrong, but they were based on a legitimate premise, namely, that we do have enemies within.

The Army-McCarthy hearings for example, which focused in large part on spy activities at the Army Signal Corps Ft. Monmouth, NJ facility (where Julius Rosenberg had worked for a time) spelled the beginning of his downfall, when Attorney for the Army Joseph Welch posed the famous question: 'Have you no sense of decency, sir?' Three years later however, Congress shut down the Ft. Monmouth facility—determined to be irretrievably penetrated by Soviet agents.

Many politicians in both the Democrat and Republican parties agreed with McCarthy. One of his most ardent friends and supporters, John F. Kennedy, once expressed his outrage at a Harvard Spree Club dinner when the speaker compared McCarthy to convicted Soviet spy Alger Hiss. JFK stood up, interrupting the speaker, and said: 'How dare you couple the name of a great American patriot with that of a traitor!' He then walked out. Bobby Kennedy was minority counsel on McCarthy’s Senate investigations subcommittee staff. The Left would much prefer we didn’t remember JFK and RFK’s inconvenient anti-communism.

In part because of McCarthy’s failure, our reluctance to seriously investigate domestic subversive organizations really has its roots in this period. As noted columnist and conservative talk show host Chuck Morse relates: 'The substantial power the left wielded over our government and media was on full display in the concerted campaign to stop McCarthy, who, in hindsight, has been vindicated of all charges. Politicians who would henceforth be more circumspect when investigating communist or any other subversive element in government heard the lesson of McCarthy's downfall loud and clear. Average citizens, at least subliminally conscious of the auto da fe McCarthy had been put through, would also learn to curb their criticism of the left as well.'

But in those times even the communists sometimes revealed what they were up to. For example, the Soviet funded People’s Daily World newspaper explained a Hollywood studio strike thusly: 'Hollywood is often called the land of Make-Believe, but there is nothing make-believe about the Battle of Hollywood being waged today ... The prize will be the complete control of the greatest medium of communication in history.' As Stalin said: 'If I could control Hollywood, I could rule the world.'

Those forces still exist in Hollywood today and at least partially explain why so many movies we see tend to have anti-American overtones. In fact, actors who want to be successful in Hollywood implicitly understand the necessity of being Politically Correct. Conservative actors attempting to get regular employment face their own 'Blacklist'.

Many of the organizations investigated in the 1950s have continued to thrive and grow while we have looked the other way. Seeing fertile ground, new ones have popped up.

Loyal Americans need to agree on a methodology for attacking this problem. That means bruising political battles, because some people in virtually all professional disciplines lie with the enemy and many others unknowingly support them. We have allowed them to weasel their way into positions of power that give them direct influence over measures intended to expose and stop them. Yet it has never been clearer just how dangerous these individuals and groups are.

You want to protest American policies? Fine. But if your activities serve to undermine our national security and threaten our collective future, we don’t have to tolerate it. After all, your actions are really threatening our lives. Threats like that cannot go unchallenged.

It is unfortunate that the death and destruction of a 9/11 and the untimely deaths and injuries of our young men and women in battle were needed to get our attention. But they have, at least temporarily.

So now we must seize the moment: The 9/11 victims and the troops who sacrificed all in Afghanistan and Iraq stand mute sentinel over our collective national conscience. We cannot let them down.

When Dissent Becomes Sedition
by Jim Simpson, FrontPageMagazine.com, May 28, 2003

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Instead, we congratulate ourselves for our 'open-minded' tolerance of this malevolent behavior, never fully acknowledging its long-term impact.

Our suicide pill, in a nut shell.

Anonymous said...

Excellent.

I notice that it was written 3 years ago, and I also notice that many of the people mentioned have "risen in the ranks" since.

Anonymous said...

Here's a good addition to this article:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/
news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39304

Anonymous said...

Early in America's history, we learned the dangers of citizens and politicians cutting private deals with our enemies. In 1799, Congress passed the Logan Act, which reads (in part):

"§ 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments.

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.


18 U.S.C. § 953 (2004)."

So why aren't democrats John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Bill Nelson and de facto democrat Arlen Specter under indictment right now for violating this act?

For some inexplicable reason, the current administration is more focused on saving the Country from dastardly criminals like Martha Stewart...

Anonymous said...

All true.

Anonymous said...

You are spitting in the wind. The radicals of the 60's are now the power brokers of today. Until that generation is gone and a new breed arises, abandon all hope.

joanie said...

John and All,

Here’s a related petition that Rick and I signed several years ago, seeking to prosecute John Kerry -- though not under the Logan Act, but under UCMJ (Article 104 part 904) and U.S. Code (18 USC Sec. 2381 and 18 USC Sec. 953) and Section 3 of the 14th Amendment (No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President ... having previously taken an oath ... to support the Constitution of the United States, [who has] engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereo):

http://patriotpetitions.us/Kerry/

The sad part is that we citizens read what the Logan Act or these other codes and laws say, comprehend that a lot of our leaders should be fined and/or imprisoned for three years -- or significantly worse, and potentially noose-related, in my book -- because of it, but we wouldn't know where to start to make that happen. Other than, of course, the absolute necessity of hiring a high-powered, high-priced cadre of attorneys to plead our side -- which is a large part of the reason that the criminals in congress have seen to it that no justice can be served in this country without both (1) countless, insurmountable hoops being navigated, and (2) attorneys lining their pockets and lobbying for the construction of yet more hoops.

Laws (both those placed on the books in the late eighteenth century, and those presently hitting the books) now only serve to ‘keep in line’ the average citizen, or politically incorrect criminals/politicians.

The fact that Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace (as we are being reminded minute-by-minute since the death of Gerald Ford), while Bill Clinton served two full terms, and his wife (in name only) is seen as a front runner for the job he dishonored, is a grotesque example of the selectivity of ‘law enforcement’ in modern America.

And if you ask even a ‘conservative’ member on the Hill why the Logan Act is not being enforced, you will be treated to a tap dance ‘non-answer’ that would made even Astaire/Rogers look like clumsy oafs. The corruption and duplicity is so entrenched that even those with the ‘right’ credentials cringe at the thought of confronting the beast.

Which is (at least part of the reason) why our days are numbered.

~ joanie

Anonymous said...

And if you ask even a ‘conservative’ member on the Hill why the Logan Act is not being enforced, you will be treated to a tap dance ‘non-answer’ that would made even Astaire/Rogers look like clumsy oafs. The corruption and duplicity is so entrenched that even those with the ‘right’ credentials cringe at the thought of confronting the beast.

Bingo! Thanks for noticing, I wish more people would.

Anonymous said...

loubarakos,

Your comment: I notice that it was written 3 years ago, and I also notice that many of the people mentioned have "risen in the ranks" since. is right on the mark.

The slime keeps rising to the top.

Anonymous said...

Well said, cw-patriot.

Anonymous said...

Somehow, between World War II and 9/11 we forgot this.

We forgot a lot in the last 60 years, namely how to survive as a sovereign country.

Anonymous said...

The fact that Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace (as we are being reminded minute-by-minute since the death of Gerald Ford), while Bill Clinton served two full terms, and his wife (in name only) is seen as a front runner for the job he dishonored, is a grotesque example of the selectivity of ‘law enforcement’ in modern America.

Good.

Anonymous said...

The inmates are running the asylum and the whole damn thing is so out of control that there's nothing the rest of us can do about it---short of a revolution.

Anonymous said...

We need a new McCarthy and we need to not demonize him but to correctly demonize those people who have been uncovered as what was once known as "anti-American" but what is now known as "global" and "tolerant".

Anonymous said...

From another blog:

The traitors among us

I am sick and tired of reading letters by the whiny, crybaby, malcontented liberals and Bush haters. These traitors think Bush is so bad? So terrible?

They have one thing they can truly be thankful for: the fact that I am not the president. To me, these people are traitors to the United States of America and therefore are my enemy -- and an enemy to the United States just as much as any Islamic terrorist.

Day after day, the Beacon Journal sees fit to publish letters from these counterfeit Americans, some who even claim to be good ``Christians'' but who are, in reality, counterfeit Christians who quote only Scripture that is convenient for them and seems to support their leftist, politically correct agenda.

Real Americans like George W. Bush stand tall and together for what is right and godly, not for what is politically correct and ungodly.

How many of these so-called Americans do you think would have survived in the days of our Founding Fathers if they had proposed such enlightened, progressive ideas as abortion, gay marriage, taking God out of the schools, gun control, abolishing capital punishment, not spanking your children, pampering criminals and blurring the roles between the sexes? The list could go on and on.

The Founding Fathers would not have tolerated such nonsense. They had something for such enlightened thinkers. It was called tar and feathers.

It is time for good, old-fashioned American justice again. Drastic times call for drastic measures.

America is heading for another civil war. This next time, it won't be between the North and the South but, rather, between the powers of good and those of evil, of light against dark, right against left, conservative against liberal. It is unfortunate that America has slipped so deeply into the ungodly abyss the liberals have created, but the blame cannot fall solely on them.

Part of it rests with the real Americans who sat idly by and let them do it a little bit at a time -- bit by bit, year by year, until we have come to where we are. This past Election Day, they won a victory in the battle for our country, but the war is not over.

The time for complacency is done. It is past. Now is the time to fight. It is time to take our country back from the unholy liberal left. Once and for all.

David Schrader
Akron

Anonymous said...

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing is worth a war is much worse."

--John Stuart Mill

Anonymous said...

The only people I would add to the sedition list mentioned here is the U.S. State Department, that undermines our safety and aids our enemies more often than not.

Anonymous said...

"Loyal Americans need to agree on a methodology for attacking this problem."

You can't be loyal and intellectually lazy at the same time, and there are too many of the latter and not enough of the former, so don't hold your breath for "a methodology for attacking this promblem."

Anonymous said...

So now we must seize the moment: The 9/11 victims and the troops who sacrificed all in Afghanistan and Iraq stand mute sentinel over our collective national conscience. We cannot let them down.

Unfortunately it's our government that calls the shots, and once the new traitors assume office "let them down" they will. It's Vietnam all over again only more dangeous.

Anonymous said...

Jim Baker and company will take care of all these problems.

Remember, it's all Israel's fault!

That was the conclusion of the Baker 'study'.

Interestingly enough, Jimmy Carter in his new book comes to the same conclusion.

Anonymous said...

A rather delayed comment, but on the subject of when dissent becomes sedition, a British Muslim has just been found guilty of incitement to murder for chanting "Bomb, bomb Denmark, bomb, bomb USA." during some protests against the Danish cartoons on Mohammed last year. Quite what the USA had to do with this I cannot see but I guess such sentiments are necessary in any muslim militant demonstration?!

See link for the story

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6235279.stm

Anonymous said...

America; my America, is hardly recognizable anymore.

Growing up in the 50's was a totally different life than what we have today.

Just like an old movie, kids of the day enjoyed simple pleasures, dreamed of being a soldier, rode bicycles, played in the streets, didn't have to worry about "strangers" etc. etc.

Today is totally different. We now have a cancer. The cancer began in the mid-60's, in the form of peaceniks and rabble protesting in the streets, sometimes in the same streets we used to play in.

Now America is full of people who are both uneducated and under-educated. People who have patriotism stripped from them by the same people who strove to end the Vietnam War. They succeeded in that. By leaving, countless people died at the hands of the Communists.

Godliness was attacked. Christ was stripped from society wherever it was possible. Happy Holiday, Winter Break etc etc replaced ANY semblance of greeting that insinuated that God exists.

Where we go from here, I do not know. I fear, not for myself, but for my children, grandchildren, and the country I love. I watch attacks on everything that was once good, pure, and wholesome, and I wonder where America is heading and what her future will be.
What will be? Perhaps I don't want to know...

joanie said...

Luis,

It would appear that juries across the pond possess more common sense than those in America. :)

I found this excerpt especially fascinating:

Anjem Choudary, a former spokesman for the now banned Al-Muhajiroun organisation, said Muslims were treated as "second class citizens" and could not get a "fair trial".

He said: "Muslims are demonised and vilified.

"This is a failure of capitalism, of democracy and the freedom of speech."


Odd that he is lamenting the failure of the three entities his organization most despises.

Someone needs to tell him that he can't have his cake and eat it, too.

Interesting link. Thanks!

~ joanie

joanie said...

Anonymous,

Such beautiful and heartfelt words.

I completely share your memories of better days, your view of what is causing our decay, and your (justified) concern about what the future holds.

I believe the saddest aspect of it all lies in the fact that everything you have described has been laid out in a carefully-planned agenda, and we, as a people, have so far proven too voluntarily ignorant and apathetic to recognize -- and then determine to stop -- it.

Thank you for your meaningful, well-conceived, and beautifully-expressed comments.

~ joanie