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Dave Racer ~ PO Box 600160 ~ St. Paul, MN ~ 55106 ~ Write Dave America denies unalienable rights Dave Racer March 26, 1998 Unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, belong to all people, not just Americans. Why does American foreign policy arrogantly seek to deny them to citizens of disfavored nations? The profound truth of unalienable rights is, according to America's Declaration of Independence, granted to all of mankind through the creative power of God. This indispensable concept formed the basis of the argument made by America's Founders in their demand for independence. But America's current policy toward Iraq, Cuba and Serbia shows we have seriously violated these unalienable rights. By confusing the political leaders of these countries (despots that they are) and their governing systems (oppressive as they are) with their citizens, we have lost the moral argument to defend our own freedoms. If we believe that life, liberty and property (what the Founders meant when they stated "pursuit of happiness") are rights that cannot be denied by governments except for a serious breach of the law, we do well. For governments to deny those rights to its citizens places mankind at the mercy of the strongest among them, as in Iraq, Cuba, Serbia and many other nations. America's theory of the practice of governing has given its citizens more freedom and material wealth than any other people in history. It has also created a peace loving citizenry. We do not do armed foreign conflict to win land, possessions, power or prestige. We do armed conflict, in theory, only to win peace and freedom, to protect or provide unalienable rights for our people and all mankind. America has, however, conducted an ongoing war against the common citizens of Iraq, Cuba and Serbia through its economic boycotts. With United Nations complicity, we have denied these citizens their unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. By so doing, our political leaders think they are punishing Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro and Slobodan Milosevic. We seem to be saying, "If only the physically weakened and unarmed citizens of those countries would rise up and throw of their dictators as our Founders did, we would rush in to do life-saving business with them." For my sake, I have come to the very disturbing and unsettling conclusion that this is a grossly immoral and not even practical belief. And its results are devastating. In Iraq, an estimated 1 million Iraqis, 557,000 of them children, have died as a direct result of these sanctions. Some 4,500 children under age five are dying each month from hunger and disease. If we believe our Founders, every one of these individuals was created with the unalienable right to life. Iraqi citizens stripped of any ability to defend themselves against the evil wiles of Hussein have seen their emerging liberties snuffed out, to be replaced by rationing of the most basic needs of life. Do we really think they can throw Hussein out? Our sanctions have destroyed the Iraqi middle class. A strong middle class actively involved in their country's and the world's economic activity is an essential building block of peace and freedom. By what right do we deny the Iraqis life's basics? We have confused politics and people. But this is to be expected by our modern governing theory that holds to the belief that individuals and governments are one in the same. This is a theory that has little regard for individual human life, as evidenced by abortion and the emerging acceptance of euthanasia. It is a theory that looks for a legislative solution to every human problem, and when one is not made available, seeks superhuman wisdom from a court of nine people. Worse, it is also a theory that disregards the reality of the Creator as a force who must someday be faced in the context of owning up to how one lived their brief life here on earth. We Americans have legitimate and serious differences with Hussein, Castro and Milosevic, but not with the citizens whom they hold in their iron grip. We can best liberate mankind through a generous application of free enterprise. The time is here to open up markets for and with Iraqis, Cubans and Serbians. Give them the opportunity to build a middle class - to cling to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - and watch God do for them what He has done for us. To accept less is to stand in the position of Judge, and there is only One of them. |