Forgive me for the possibly rambling nature, but I wrote this off the cuff, as my mind has been on the subject for days, and I needed to get this off my chest.
While perusing a used book sale over the Labor Day weekend, I came across the book The China Hands, by EJ Kahn. It told the story of the Asian experts of the State Department who, one by one, were felled by the hysteria of early postwar America regarding Communism. The tale strikes an especially strong note when compared with today’s fanatical obsession with terrorists and security.
What happened to the China Hands is one of the most disgraceful episodes in American history. I cannot state that strongly enough. Talented, loyal, patriotic diplomats who risked their lives in war-torn China only to be brought home and subject to the same sort of show trials that the Soviets put their “traitors” and “saboteurs” through was criminal. Senators Joe McCarthy and Pat McCarran committed treason by their deliberate sabotage of American foreign policy. In trying to push it to the right, they pushed it off a cliff, and their work helped lead to the Korean and Vietnam Wars, because America was deprived of the counsel of its experts by their craven political calculations, and took the wrong steps because of the lack of expertise.
Today, we constantly face the same situation. You cannot argue against the undemocratic, near totalitarian practices of constant government surveillance or endless war without being branded a traitor who wants America to fall into the hands of Communists terrorists. If you argue against actions that are clearly anathema to anyone with a fifth-grade education who has learned the most basic of civics, you want the terrorists to win. If you’re the President, and you are withdrawing our soldiers from areas where they’ve fought an endless war because the constant death and spending is no longer worth the meager gains, you are a closet Muslim that wants the Communists terrorists to win.
You know what the fun part is? The same group of delusional con men who perpetrated the nefarious idea that our diplomats were part of a secret Communist cabal to “lose” China are the same ones who blather that the President has “lost” Iraq today. That’s right, the Republicans. The Republican Party experiences moments of sanity in its life, but quite frankly, hasn’t had a coherent philosophy since the days of Herbert Hoover. The typical pre-World War II Republican was an insular type who admired Hitler and Mussolini and hated the British and French for the supposed conspiracy they committed to get us into World War I. The typical postwar Republican saw Communist conspiracies everywhere, destroyed the lives of many good men and women that gave more for their nation than they did, sitting in their safe offices on Capitol Hill, ranting about said conspiracies. And today, the typical Republican is spreading hysteria about the terrorist threat that really isn’t as great as they like to espouse.
Lord knows there are plenty of Democrats who’ve done the same in the name of political expediency, but in their very meager defense, they live in Republican-dominated states, where you have to be just crazy enough to keep your job in office, because principles aren’t nearly as important as that sweet salary, wonderful perks, and going on television like you know any better than anyone else. But I digress.
The very founding of America was a dissent from the tyrannical practices of the British Empire under King George III. The Founders considered freedom of dissent so important that they enshrined it in the First Amendment. That’s right, “freedom lovers,” the Founding Fathers cared more about your ability to speak your mind than shoot your guns. And yet, what has American practice been in the modern world? We have constantly stifled dissent through thinly veiled “security” laws, because we cannot be safe when we speak our minds, no matter what Benjamin Franklin said. What did he know, after all? He was only a brilliant inventor and our first diplomat!
Groupthink is the most dangerous invention of any society, and as we’ve reached the hundred-year mark of American groupthink, it’s long past time to put that idea to rest. Security does not come through constant war, constant surveillance, and constant stifling of dissenting opinion. Those are the things that weaken us the most. We didn’t fall apart in the mid-to-late Seventies because of dissent. We fell apart because after 15 years of endless war in Vietnam, and thirty years of endless, illegal surveillance by the FBI and CIA, the nation couldn’t take it any longer. Our mental and emotional reserves were drained, our treasury had been driven into debt, and our confidence in leadership had been shattered by a President who violated the basic tenets of the Constitution by approving criminal behavior that subverted our society.
A nation that tolerates and welcomes dissent grows strong, because, as the Chinese proverb goes, the hottest fire forges the strongest steel. Decisions reached after vigorous debate are better, because the dissent has been heard and considered, and one-track thinking does not long survive rigorous questioning. For too long, our nation has faced the balance of one side questioning the “loyalty” and “patriotism” of the other side, and that other side trying to argue the merits, instead of pushing back strong and hard against such charges. The debate isn’t, nor should it ever be, about “loyalty.” Unquestioning loyalty is blindness, and blindness gets people killed. The debate should always be over the merits. Is this right or wrong? Is this going to help or hurt America? And most importantly, are we listening to those who disagree with us? They just might be right, after all.