RE: Homeland Security: The Sworn Duty of Public Officials
When you have a system that has become more concerns about what is seen to be done and following a process than achieving outcomes then people of good conscious have a duty to try and correct it.
I am not American but was it not Thomas Jefferson when speaking against the inadequacies of the British said people of good consciousness have the duty to rebel against unjust governments ?
After all this is the slogan the United States has used to justify their actions or inactions in well over 50 foreign countries; to help the people reclaim their natural rights toward self determined destinies. Now many in America are saying the same thing the government is saying; " I told people the lack of isolation would lead to radical ideals and come back and bite us ".
Americas success on the world stage has been that it has effectively isolated itself from world events until a profitable time arrived for it to get involved just enough to look morally correct as they acted in Americas own self interest.
Anyone who is confused by such thinking has only to open most non American history books to read other accounts of real world events. Remember the winners are the ones you write the history books for their people, but independent observers often see the truth.
The United States inflamed the Middle East and expected other countries to get involved; other countries simply said, you created this problem; you fix it. Effectively America has marketed radical groups to violent actions against most of the world today and created the refugee crisis.
Now America says; we will not be taking any refugees, we cannot trust them . . .
American politics would make a great tragic comedy except how it destroys peoples lives : (
/ hugz ; )
Oh who said " I never had sexual relations with that woman ? "
Bonus Question " There ARE weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq ! ! ! "
This is why these people are professional politicians and not used car salesmen; one of those jobs requires integrity . . .
The system today is corrupted by human nature. We were told by the Founders from the start that we had a Republic, "if we can keep it". That wasn't a warning of foreign interference, it was a warning of vigilance agianst the corruption and laziness within us. America is not exceptional because of some magical unknown property. America was, and is fast hurtling away from, exceptional for four reasons:
American success was not based upon the idea of capitalism alone; it was also based upon the idea that self-disciplined people would be responsible for mainlining a moral society in the using capitalism. Since each generation became greater in wealth and lesser in morality, the vigilance against corruption and mob rule has lessened. De Tocqueville warned against our society buying itself comfort from the public coffers, and his warning has borne itself out.
The point of the post was that the last line of protecting that idea through the rule of law is the LE and security communities. They have to choose duty and vigilance over corruption, or the system is unrecoverable, instead of simply hard to fix as it now.
Thanks for the comments and the plug, @ crok!
While I am not American I know a bit about the real and false history of the United States. Firstly the military, there are some amazingly dedicated personnel within the Armed Forces, but reality says 75 % of the personnel are primarily there for the training or the college program.
Regardless anytime the United States could and would ask these brave men and women to give up their life o r health for some purpose. So while many in the forces are there for the free calories that small percentage of dedicated operators gets a huge Thank You For Your Service from this non-American . . .
Now to the real workers, LEO's Law Enforcement Officers; these heroes of society are just that, they are poorly paid and poorly equipped yet every shift go out and risk almost everything for complete strangers. People say law enforcement is there to uphold the law; but it is more about making people feel safer to pursue their own interests in making society prosperous.
Some people quote " to Protect and Serve " , reality says some officer is going to have to take aim at some teenager one day and decide about shooting; and another is going to have to run down a dark alley alone at 2AM chasing some unknown runners . . .
So my huge thank you goes out to the ' Body Guards of Society ' those people who take Duty and Service seriously ! ! !