A Radical Whig in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Wilful and Offensive War
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A Radical Whig in Chattanooga, Tennessee Wilful and Offensive War |
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John Adams, a cowriter and signer of our Declaration of Independence,
as well as our second president, remarked "Great is the guilt of an unnecessary
war". The arguments for invading Iraq have fallen to the wayside,
as the assertions over WMD’s, drones of death, support for Al Queda, and involvement in the 9/11 attack have been proven
to be false. Sadly, these "assertions" are being dusted off, massaged and rearranged a little, an "n" substituted for a "q",
and the name "Saddam Hussein" replaced by "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad" in a chorus intended to rush us off to war with Iran.
As the fright tactics regarding nonexistent Iranian nuclear weapons have missed the mark, they are now being accused of causing
the deaths of American troops in Iraq. The accusations are many, the details and substance are few and lacking. Congress seems perfectly happy to delegate the decision
making process for attacking Iran to George Bush and Darth Cheney. However, as George Washington pointed out, "The constitution
vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after
they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure." The "authorization" George Washington talked
about is a "Declaration of War". Furthermore, James Madison, the primary author of our Constitution, told us that "The Executive
has no right, in any case, to decide the Question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war." Implicit in that is
that Congress may not delegate that right or power to the President. There is only one way to determine if we are again being
lied to and hoodwinked. Congress should hold hearings on the issue. If they determine there is cause to go to war with Iran,
then they should declare war and be done with it. If there is no cause for war with Iran, then they obviously should not delegate
that decision to anybody else. The protection of our troops in Iraq is a worthy consideration.
The best way to accomplish that is to withdraw them from our present Unconstitutional and Undeclared War, and bring them home. War and The Rights of Man:
"Whatever is the cause of taxes to a Nation, becomes also the means of revenue to a Government. Every war terminates with an addition to taxes, and consequently with an addition of revenue; and in every event of war, in the manner they are now commenced and concluded, the power and interest of Governments are increased. War, therefore from its productiveness, as it easily furnishes the pretence of necessity for taxes and appointments to places and offices, becomes a principal part of the system of old Governments; and to establish any mode to abolish war, however adventageous it might be to Nations, would be to take from such Governments the most lucrative of its branches. The frivolous matters upon which war is made, shew the disposition and avidity of Governments to uphold the system of war, and betray the motives upon which they act." - Thomas Paine in the Rights of Man - 1791. |
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 There is no greater sin than wilful and offensive
WAR............
Thomas Paine was a transplanted Englishman who had a true love of Individual Liberty. He played a key role in the original
War for Independance. Paine's "These are the Times which try mens' souls" has been long remembered by those familiar with
our War for Independence. If his words are now forgotten, it is a sad reflection on our system of public education.
He was the author of "Common Sense" and "The Crisis", both dealing with Independence for the "colonies", as well as "The
Rights of Man", which dealt with the French Revolution. In "The Crisis - #V" Thomas Paine addresses his public letter to British
General Sir William Howe, regarding his conduct of the War. We need to reflect on its applicability to others
fin our modern times, as our bombs fall in foreign lands and our Nation's Honor is tarnished by our "prisons" in Cuba
and other areas outside of our national borders.
He wrote on March 21, 1778 to General Howe:
"To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in the holding
humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture. Enjoy,
sir, your insensibility of feeling and reflecting. It is the prerogative of animals. And no man will envy you those honors
in which a savage only can be your rival and a bear your master. ...................
... It is now fixed and known; and we have nothing to hope from you candor or to fear from your capcity. Indolence and
inability have too large a share in your composition ever to suffer you to be any thing more than the hero of little villanies
and unfinished adventures. That, which to some persons appeared moderation in you at first, was not produced by any real virtue
of your own, but by a contrast of passions dividing and holding you in perpetual irresolution. One vice will frequently expel
another without the least merit in the man, as powers in contrary directions reduce each other to rest. .........
Mankind are not universally agreed in their determination of right and wrong; but there are certain actions
which the consent of all nations and individuals hath branded with the unchangeable name of MEANNESS.
In the list of human vices we find some of such a refined constitution, that they cannot be carried into practice without
seducing some virtue to their assistance; but meanness hath neither alliance nor apology. It is
generated in the dust and sweepings of other vices, and is of such a hateful figure that all the rest conspire to disown it.
...........
A conduct so basely mean in a public character is without precedent or pretence, Every nation on earth, whether friends
or enemies, will unite in despising you. 'Tis an incendiary war upon society which nothing can excuse or paliate - An improvement
upon beggarly villany - and shews an inbred wretchedness of heart made up between the venomous malignity of a serpent and
the spiteful imbecility of an inferior reptile. ......
....Let me ask, sir, what great exploits have you performed? Through all the variety of changes and opportunities which
this war hath produced, I know no one action of yours that can be stiled masterly. You have moved in and out, backward and
forward, round and round, as if valor consisted in a military jig. The history and figure of your movements would be truly
ridiculous could they be justly delineated. They resemble the labors of a puppy pursuing his tail; the end is still at the
same distance, and all the turnings round must be done over again. ..........
Never did a nation invite destruction upon itself with the eagerness and ignorance with which Britain
has done. Bent upon the ruin of a young and unoffending country, she hath drawn the sword that hath wounded herself
to the heart, and in the agony of her resentment hath applied a poison rather than a cure. Her conduct toward America
is a compound of rage and lunacy; she aims at the government of it, yet preserves neither dignity nor character in her methods
to obtain it.
... how abominably absurd is the idea of being hereafter governed by a set of men who have
been guilty of forgery, perjury, treachery, theft, and every species of villany which the lowest wretches on earth could practise
or invent. What greater public curse can befal any country than to be under such authority, and what greater blessing than
to be delivered therefrom. The soul of any man of sentiment would rise in brave rebellion against them and spurn them from
the earth.
...The malignant and venomous tempered General Vaughan has amused his savage fancy in burning the
whole town of Kingston ......
... There is not in the compass of language a sufficiency
of words to express the baseness of your king, his ministry, and his army. They have refined upon villany till it wants a
name. To the fiercer vices of former ages they have added the dregs and scummings of the most finished rescality, and are
so completely sunk in serpentine deceit, that there is not left among them one generous enemy.
...
There is something in meanness
which excites a species of resentment that never subsides, and something in cruelty which stirs up the heart to the highest
agony of human hatred. .....
For the domestic happiness of Britain and the peace of the world I wish she had
not a foot of land but what is circumscribed within her own island. Extent of dominion hath been her ruin, and instead of
civilizing others hath brutalized herself. ...
When we take a survey of mankind we cannot
help cursing the wretch, who, to the unavoidable misfortunes of nature shall wilfully add the calamities of war. One would
think there were evils enough in the world without studying to increase them, and that life is sufficiently short without
shaking the sand which measures it. The histories of Alexander, and Charles of Sweden, are the histories of human devils;
a good man cannot think of their actions without abhorrence nor of their deaths without rejoicings. To see the bounties of
Heaven destroyed, the beautiful face of nature laid waste, and the choicest works of creation and art tumbled into ruin, would
fetch a curse from the soul of piety itself. ...
If there is a sin superior to every other it is that of wilful and offensive war. Most other
sins are circumscribed within narrow limits, that is, the power of one man cannot give them a very general extension,
and many kind of sins have only a mental existence from which no infection arises; but he who is the author of a war, lets
loose the whole contagion of hell, and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death. ... "
There has been no justification for our invading Iraq. If Tom Paine were an Iraqi, what
would he write about us? It is time to bring our troops home. Iraq's problems will never be resolved as long they are occupied
by a foreign power.
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 "No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst
of continual warfare." James Madison
Is the Iraq War being fought to keep us free? Has this
war made the people of Iraq any more free? Are Christians fleeing Iraq because our war there has made them more free? Is our
"War on Terrorism" being fought to keep us free?
James Madison is highly regarded as the principal author of our Constitution
and as the fourth President of our Federal government. He wrote:
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to
be dreaded, because it comprises the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes;
and armies, and debts and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.
In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended;
its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of secuding the minds, are added
to those of dubduing the force, of the people. ... No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual
warfare."
Our foreign policy provokes attacks against us, to which those in our
Federal Government respond by taking away the Constitutional protection of our Liberties, as was done by the misnamed
Patriot Act. Congress has ceded war making powers to the president, ignoring Madison's warning about the Executive usurping
and gathering power.
It is time for us to contact our Congressmen, and remind them of Madison's
warning; "No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare". It is time to
bring the troops home. It is time for the Federal Government to confine itself to protecting our lives and liberties, not
searching out foreign adventures in which to consume them.
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