Opinion Editorials, June 2012

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, June 28, 2012

American Republican Party in Perspective

            One of the two leading political systems in the United States is the Republican Party, the other being the Democratic Party. In spite of the fact that the Republican Party has plenty to offer, its concept of democracy tends to be merely on the surface. In this presentation we will concentrate only on the Republican Party. A substantial number of Americans do not seem to have a clear concept of the Republican political philosophy.
 
Constructive Assets at Work
 
            In the first place we need to concentrate on the positive and constructive qualities of this party which are often referred to as conservative. To a certain degree, Republicans tend to demonstrate respect toward the four hierarchical laws the way they are structured: divine, natural, ecclesiastical, and civic. In general, they are fully aware of the fact that should a clash take place between such laws, the one that is higher should be observed while the one that is lower should be disregarded.
 
            We may illustrate this by some examples. The Divine Law is viewed to be God’s made law, commonly known as the Ten Commandments that are found in the Bible. One of these Commandments says clearly: You should not kill. This means that anything that reveals life should be protected and not destroyed. This means the sacredness of the human life starts at conception. Millions of people in the world take this even a step further by making the sacredness of any life starting with conception applicable also to all kind of animals.
 
            To this end, Republicans often thought seriously to enact a law declaring the unborn child to be viewed as a full-fledged person for all practical purposes. This explains why in the past you could always find clergymen in the United States advocating to the members of their congregations to cast their votes for Republicans. In the moral sphere, this has certainly been viewed as one of their assets. The human life is so sacred, ascetical writers tell us, that God had sent His Son to sacrifice His life even just to save one single person.
 
            In accordance with the Natural Law, marriage is the natural union between male and female. This law has been in operation since the early days of human existence. In this regard, Republicans oppose fully the so called “same-sex” marriage since this would violate a law that is higher than the Civic Law. Hence, when it comes to the code of morality, Republicans prove themselves to be on the forefront. Besides, people by their very nature are spiritually-oriented in a way that they often feel the need to communicate with a higher being commonly known as God.
 
Open Belief in the Supernatural
 
            This explains why Republicans tend to conduct prayers in public. They do not hesitate to profess their belief in God. They also respect the right of every individual to expose statues of higher beings in the open. This means they want to retain in their place all crucifixes, statues of angels, and sacred religious beings that would include those of Jesus, His Blessed Mother and anything that is meant to elevate the human mind to a higher level of existence. After all, the United States has been always viewed as a predominantly Christian nation.
 
            In view of what has been stated, Republicans want to preserve with pride the traditional religious heritage they received from their ancestors. The good preservation of such a noble heritage may be one of the great gifts they could give to their children, grandchildren and to all of posterity, as a matter of fact. Needless to say, the list of good things Republicans do in the best interest of all people may continue to go on and on. However, we need also to deal with some of their leading defects or weaknesses.
 
            What is important when we deal with an individual or a group is to try to have a clear picture not from just a couple of angles but, if possible, from as many angles as we can. This way we will be in a position to help them retain all of their good and to eliminate most or all of their defects or weaknesses to the best of our ability. This could be done best by making a good analysis of the Republican mind-set which seems to have been built and now deeply trenched in the culture of war. This element cannot be taken lightly.
 
            This is especially so because as Pope Pius XII said to the Germans and the British on the eve of World War II, “in a war everyone is a loser and no one is a winner.” In fact, we are fully aware now of the fact that when Germany lost the war its economy collapsed and people were poor everywhere. At the same time, the British won the war but their economy equally collapsed and people were poor everywhere as well. In addition, the British Empire soon collapsed shortly afterwards. This proves that in a war everyone is a loser and no one is a winner.
 
            In the realm of human relations, the Republican philosophy is based on the belief that if the USA is fully armed to the teeth all the nations of the world could be brought easily under its control. To this end, Presidential Republican candidate Ron Paul told us that this nation has today some 900 US foreign military bases in 146 countries. This means that at this stage of history the United States has more military bases than the military bases of all the nations of the world combined. Since such US military bases are viewed in general as a threat, this nation is instigating more and more enemies.
 
Reliance on Never-Ending Wars
 
            In view of this we may see clearly why Republicans want to solve all of the world problems through never-ending wars that have now moved the entire nation to a state of economic collapse. When Americans invade a nation, they tell the people that they want to bring them freedom and democracy. But the people of such invaded nations can never believe them because what they witness from Americans is the destruction of their homes as well as the killing and maiming of hundreds of their relatives and friends.
 
            It explains why the US military never got the support of the people in Vietnam, in Iraq and in Afghanistan. A few years ago the United Nations sent a group of humanitarian organizations to visit elementary schools in both Gaza and Iraq to test the feelings of young children that were between the ages of eight and ten. One of the questions asked was: What would you like to do when you grow up? The answer was quick and almost unanimous: “Killing Americans!” Needlessly to say, this caught everyone by surprise.
 
            So the obvious question raised then was: “Why do you want to do this?” Once more the answer was quick and almost unanimous: “Because Americans destroyed our houses and now we are homeless; they killed our father and now we have no father; they killed our mother and now we have no mother; and they killed and maimed most of our friends.” We may begin to understand why the people of every nation where the US military is found want the American soldiers to leave their country the sooner the better.
 
            Of course, since the American news-media are deeply trenched in the culture of war, which is fully espoused by the Republicans especially, they try to tell the American people how happy and grateful the people of Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan are that the US military forces are “deliberating from their tyrannical government officials.” But the eventual reality is a different story. A few years ago, many Iraqis were asked how they felt of the Americans who “deliberated” them from Saddam Hussein.
 
            To the surprise of those who raised the question the answer was virtually unanimous: “We were better under Saddam Hussein than under the Americans because then we still had our homes where we could have shelter; we did enjoy our children playing and seeing them growing up; and we had a lot of relatives and friends whom we enjoyed. Now several of these have been killed or maimed and we feel very desolate….. Yes, we rather had Saddam Hussein than the Americans in Iraq.” In spite of these realities, Republicans are still determined to continue to wage never ending wars, with another against Iran as the next likely.
 
Re-Evaluation of Human Life
 
            It is very ironic that while Republicans view the human life as sacred from the very moment of conception, they seem to have very little regard of the human life after birth. At one time former US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, under Republican President George W. Bush, was asked by the news-media how many American lives were involved in Iraq. He was quick to give them the number of those who were killed and the number of those who were wounded. Later, he was asked about the number of Iraqi civilians that were killed.
 
Without hesitation, Colin Powell said calmly: “We do not keep a count of that; we view that merely as collateral damage!” In spite of the fact that Republicans in general profess to be faithful and practicing Christians, they seem to fail to recognize that the human life is sacred not only from conception to birth but, as a matter of fact, from conception to natural death. While they are quick to condemn abortion which consists of the termination of one life at a time, they themselves take the initiative to promote the massacre of thousands at a time!
 
Since the manufacture of weapons and the promotion of wars become very expensive, Republicans in particular took away the social security money and put it into the general fund, from which they took $2 trillion dollars to finance two immoral and illegal wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the American people are faced with a big financial crisis and Republicans are threatening to take what left in the social security fund to “bring the deficit to an end,” which in reality means to make more weapons and wage more wars.
 
Moreover, Republicans are trying to cut off millions of dollars from education, health care and other vital needs of people. And to turn an insult into an injury, Republicans are determined to abdicate completely their governmental responsibilities under their formulated slogan: “Let’s take the government off the back of the people.” In essence, this means to pass all governmental responsible jobs to the private sector where people are exposed to all kinds of exploitation and literally rendered helpless through a variety of abuses.
 
            One of the greatest weaknesses of Republicans is the idea of what it is termed to be less government. In practice this amounts to no government at all in the sense that they want everything to be run by the private sector, by people whose ultimate job is to plan and plot to fleece the people from as much money as they can without any scruples whatsoever. Republicans may eventually serve as a big asset to the nation in this area if they were to device an approach where the financial interests of the people are protected, especially in the areas of health care and education.
 
Evaluating Good and Bad Aspects
 
            In final analysis, let us have a bird’s eye view of the positive and constructive contributions the Republicans are capable of providing the entire nation as to appreciate them and to continue to retain them. Let us also bring into the open some unwise and unpleasant actions that Republicans are continuing to embrace that have proven to be more detrimental than beneficial to all people without exception. The sacredness of life starts always with the first moment of conception, which is perfectly in line with the Divine Law.
 
            Respect for the sanctity of marriage revealed in the perfect observance of the Natural Law that consists in the union between male and female. There may be nothing wrong for having a bond between two close friends known as civil union, which may carry with it all legal perks. Recognizing that all people have the Sacrosanct right to practice their religious beliefs in the open by reciting prayers, and by exposing religious images and statues. People with deep spiritual convictions have always proven to be fully beneficial to the nation.
 
            Probably the greatest weakness of the Republicans lies in their great addiction to wars. Since World War II ended in 1945, the United States, instigated mostly by Republicans, has waged more wars on a global scale than all the nations of the world combined. This episode has cost tens of thousands of innocent lives, mostly children, women, the elderly and the sick. It has also made it very difficult for people to save and have more money at their disposal for their dire needs of life.
 
            Both the war in Afghanistan and Iraq could have been avoided. As a result, the United States would have had a huge surplus instead of big deficit. If Republicans were to cease trying to control the world militarily, the USA would be in good shape both socially and economically. The system of capitalism, which makes the rich grow richer and the poor get poorer, needs re-evaluation. For the Republicans to be a great asset to the nation, they need to take away the power from the hands of the rich and big corporations, the sooner the better.

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.

President

International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
Hon President & Professor, SBS Swiss Business School, Zurich
 

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