Democracy Assassinated the Family

Not a single person who signed the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution would support the invasion and occupation of Iraq in the name of "democracy," and the domestic curtailment of rights here at home. First, the Founders created a Republic of liberty under God's law; they opposed the idea of "Democracy." They would never have imagined any American President seeking to impose this dangerous concept on a non-Christian population using military force. Everything about "the War on Terror" is contrary to the principles that made America the most admired nation on earth.

Last year's massacre at Haditha, recently coming to light, is exposing an unprincipled regime in Washington, a regime completely lacking in a moral center.

Will Grigg eloquently writes about the hypocrisy of the Pentagon offering “core values training” to the US soldiers deployed in Iraq. He describes a core value that will not be taught to the troops:

When people find themselves on the receiving end of an unwarranted foreign attack, they will get angry and fight back against the invaders in any way they can – and they are entitled to. Were our nation invaded by a foreign power possessing an overwhelming military advantage, Americans would set roadside bombs, seek refuge in civilian dwellings, and kill the enemy without remorse. It wouldn't matter to us one bit if the invaders justified the invasion in humanitarian terms, or invoked their “superior” political and cultural insights. We would fight as hard as we could, for as long as it takes, to expel the foreign invaders from our home soil.

The sharpest blade will only do damage if it's not set straight. American troops should not be in Iraq, and "training" will not cure this fundamental mistake. The finest troops will only bring harm if they are in the wrong place, and have been given the wrong assignment by their civilian commanders, who seem increasingly out of touch with reality.

The contrast between world reality and Bush Administration policy is set forth in an impelling way by Robert Higgs in a recent article from the Independent Institute. If you haven't been following the Haditha controversy, this is a good introduction, but it is horrifying and alarming. Higgs quotes a Washington Post report:

The remains of the 24 [murdered Iraqis] lie today in a cemetery called Martyrs' Graveyard. Stray dogs scrounge in the deserted homes. "Democracy assassinated the family that was here," graffiti on one of the houses declared.

This is an epitaph not just for the murdered in Iraq, but for the death of the vision of America that inspired Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and America's Founders. Even while it marketed itself to voters with "family values," the last six years of the Bush regime have been destructive of the family, as conservatives acknowledge everywhere except in the voting booth. Dubya's "democracy" is his father's "New World Order" and Clinton's "reinvented government." It represents a religious faith in the Messianic State.

Senior Bush wrote in January of 1991, preparing for the first "Gulf War,"

If we do not follow the dictates of our inner moral compass and stand up for human life, then [Saddam's] lawlessness will threaten the peace and democracy of the emerging New World Order we now see: this long dreamed-of vision we've all worked toward for so long.... But we have the chance -- and we have the obligation -- to stop ruthless aggression.

(And we will use ruthless aggression if necessary.)

What exactly is "this long dreamed-of vision we've all worked toward for so long?" For America's Founders, it was "Liberty Under God" -- stripping away the monarchical British government power so that self-government could flourish. For the Bush/Clinton/Bush regime, the vision has been "hegemony" -- an empire with uncontested global political and military power.

America's Moral Values are destroyed when limited constitutional government morphs into an empire seeking to impose "Democracy" on the entire world.