On Liberty: The Mendacity of George Bush

"Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart." Wm. Shakespeare.

Surely, if there is a righteous judgment in heaven or on earth, we shall be judged not by our words but by our deeds.

Our president has delivered a stirring call to the cause of liberty but do his words bear the mark of truth or mendacity? The greater the cause, the greater the crime of its betrayal, and there can be no greater cause than liberty.

Saying that you are "a uniter" does not make it so and proclaiming "Liberty!" from the highest mountain does not crown you her champion. Liberty chooses her own champions and she will not choose one who has abused her name in the pursuit of imperial treasures. She will not choose one who has presided over the greatest rollback in civil liberty since the Alien and Sedition Acts of two centuries past.

Liberty carries no torch for greed and self-interest. To this day, America’s designated corporations have not yielded rights to Iraqi oil. To this day, America withholds from the Iraqi people the right to enter into their own agreements in the control of their own resources.

Ask any soldier: There is no freedom in a war zone.

Ask the citizens of Ramadi, Mosul, Baghdad and Fallujah: Do you dream of freedom or a secure home, free of foreign soldiers who impose their will and destroy that which does not conform to their interests?

Ask all of Iraq: Would you rather vote for approved slates of candidates or freedom from the occupation?

Ask the Afghani people if they would rather have freedom or a means to feed their families. There is no liberty in a land of desperation.

Ask the people of Haiti and Venezuela what freedoms they desire and they will tell you: Freedom from American interference in their sovereign and democratic affairs.

It is the height of arrogance for America to proclaim its will be done throughout the world in the vaunted name of liberty. The world does not belong to America and, as long as people are free to fight for their own lands, it never will. When the world looks to America, it sees the hammer of wrath, not the sweet promise of liberty. When nations look at our deeds, they see destruction on the scale of titans. When they look at our charity, they see reluctance and pride.

America is not the world’s master. It is not for us to determine the course of other nations. Though we can and should expound the virtues of liberty, it is not for us to define freedom for freedom is vastly different things to different peoples. What we revere as freedom of the press may appear to other cultures the oppression of mass media. What we perceive as free enterprise may move some to seek freedom from commercial indoctrination and cultural perversion.

The very fact that we believe we are chosen to this task is proof positive that we are not. Moreover, freedom cannot be delivered at the point of a gun and liberation is not the natural offspring of military occupation.

Far from being liberty’s champion, this president could well go down in history as the great oppressor in his own land. Among the freedoms he has challenged:

Freedom to assemble in protest on the streets, in public parks, in universities and on public squares, not in concrete pits surrounded by razor wire,

Freedom from unwarranted invasions of privacy, including our library and reading habits, financial records, political associations, travel plans and participation in public forums,

Freedom of the press from corporate dominance, consolidation and control,

Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure in our persons and our homes,

Freedom from incarceration without due process of law,

Freedom of speech without fear of harassment or official retaliation but rather with the certainty of government protection and support,

Freedom of education bound only by individual ability and not by the constraints of financial status or social rank,

Freedom from destitution, homelessness, poverty and hunger born of social neglect,

Freedom from government propaganda in our public schools, and

Freedom from the imposition of religious standards, codes and beliefs in our public institutions.

By what standard, then, can this president lay claim to champion the cause of liberty?

In truth, under the leadership of this administration, there is not a place in the world where our actions have not been stained by self-interest or strategic manipulation. Even in the tsunami crisis, our measured, tepid and gradual response left the world wondering if our heart was in our words.

On every continent where need exists, the primary threat of oppression (outside wanton neglect) is the economic extortion scheme of the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund – enforcers of transnational "free trade" capitalism. Far from opposing the tyranny of monetary policy, we are the leading sponsors of corporate oppression in the world. We demand that every nation open its borders to private exploitation. We are the loan sharks offering bail money to the starving class. When the bill comes due, we demand that they sacrifice public work programs, job training, homeless shelters, relief agencies, clean water programs, food and health programs until the debt which can never be repaid is paid in full. Austerity is the free trader’s word for perpetual third world poverty.

This is why America will not sign on to debt relief even for the nations struck by the Indian Ocean tsunami. Anything but debt relief! Similarly, we decry the very notion of reparations for the direst crimes against humanity. Anything but reparations! We will never allow the people oppressed by tyrants to emerge from the weight of that oppression. It is in this manner that the legacy of tyranny survives though the name of the tyrant may change. The only blow tyranny cannot survive is the principle of reparations: perpetual justice for enduring crimes. Reparations would end tyranny within a generation for no institution on earth would support a tyrant knowing that it would be held liable for that support.

The world is forewarned never to trust this president’s promises of liberation, democracy, economic support or freedom. America has lost its credibility. It is time Americans recognized what the world already knows: This president has so risen to unprecedented levels of duplicity, hypocrisy and deceit, that everything he says must be taken as its precise opposite.

"Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart."

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). HIS COMMENTARIES ARE WIDELY POSTED.

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