Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Speaking of National Sovereignty . . .

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As I promised when Barack Obama (D) was elected President of the United States, I will oppose him when he is wrong and support him when he is right. Today, Obama did something 100 percent right: he announced that the United States will not participate in the United Nations’ Durban II conference. Formally known as the ‘Durban Review Conference’ or ‘2009 U.N. World Conference Against Racism (WCAR)’, this meeting is not as innocuous or positive as its names might lead you to believe.

The governments of Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden have joined Obama in this boycott, citing fundamental flaws in the preparatory process. The conference, ostensibly intended to produce a document and policies to be applied world-wide to oppose racism, has instead turned into a thinly-veiled anti-Semitic attack on Jews and Israel and, if that wasn’t enough, it proposes worldwide legislation to outlaw criticism of Islam (of course, criticism of Christianity and Judaism is still just fine). Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, perhaps the world’s leading anti-Semite, has been selected to be the conference’s keynote speaker. Ludicrous.

I applaud President Obama and the leaders of the other countries boycotting this farce, and condemn the United Nations—an organization supposedly intended to foster peace and liberty in the world—for allowing one of its own component organizations to tacitly support racism (so long as it’s against Jews) and undermine the fundamental human rights to free speech and religion. After all, free speech means freedom to offend. As a Christian I can take criticism of my faith and will ‘defend to the death’ the right of anti-Christians to express their opinions, however much I disagree with them, so long as I have equal right to speak in opposition. I expect Muslims to behave in an equally civil manner toward criticism of their faith.

Acts of War

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We, the people of the United States, have been victims of ‘acts of war’ a number of times. There are the painfully obvious examples—the British impressment of American seamen in the early 1800s, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941, or the al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001. There are probably hundreds, maybe thousands, of smaller examples throughout American history. In the last several years it seems to me that acts of war against the United States have been on a significant uptick, but the U.S. government has done little to firmly assert our national sovereignty. Taken individually, these are minor, isolated incidents. Taken collectively, they point to a disturbing trend.

Don’t believe me? Here are just a few prominent examples:

  • In April 2001, a U.S. aircraft operating in international waters was antagonized by Chinese fighter aircraft, one of which collided with the U.S. craft. The damaged U.S. aircraft made an emergency landing on the Chinese mainland, and the U.S. airmen were detained in violation of international law until the U.S. government issued a letter of ‘apology’. The Chinese government then refused to allow U.S. authorities to repair and fly the aircraft out, so we had to disassemble and ship the aircraft out of China. (Hainan Island Incident)
  • In January 2008, a U.S. Navy ship operating in international waters in the Persian Gulf were harassed and antagonized by Iranian forces. (Persian Gulf Incident)
  • In August 2008, members of the Mexican military entered the United States and held a U.S. Border Patrol agent at gunpoint, ultimately claiming they didn’t know what country they were in. This is a regular occurrence on our southern border. (Mexican Border Incursion)
  • Earlier this month, Somali pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama—a U.S.-flagged cargo ship—holding its crew as hostages. Most of the crew were released or escaped, but the captain was held hostage until being rescued by the U.S. Navy. (Maersk Alabama Hijacking)
  • Just today, the Iranian government has sentenced a U.S. journalist to eight years in prison for ‘espionage’, likely because her reports were at-times critical of the Iranian government. Iran had every right to deport Roxana Saberi, but holding an American citizen as a political prisoner is an act of war. (Roxana Saberi Conviction)

There are probably hundreds more where they come from over the last few years, and it’s time that our government begin acting decisively to protect Americans from foreign acts of violence and oppression. We cannot permit acts of piracy, abduction, and confinement by foreign powers against our citizens without cause.

Goodbye Bland Affluence

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The ever-enlightening Peggy Noonan writes in today’s Wall St. Journal opinion page with some predictions for the future—predictions that we are on the precipice of a major restructuring of American society. Many prognosticators, quietly or publicly, predict unrest or even a complete disintegration of this once-great nation driven by insane and short-sighted economic policies implemented the previous and current Presidential administrations. Noonan, however, sees something much less dramatic on the horizon.

This economic downturn may serve as a sort of reset, leading people to evaluate their lives and—perhaps—abandon their hectic, light-speed, over-stimulated lives for a more simple, old-fashioned existence. It’s an interesting thought, and while I doubt it’ll actually happen any time soon it’s still a somewhat pleasant thought. We so often bury ourselves in technology and convenience and yet feel so unfulfilled. We work longer and longer hours to pay for all of it, sacrificing family and human connection. Maybe a reset and refocusing on simple, old-fashioned values would do us some good.

I certainly don’t wish a repeat of the Great Depression on our country, although the continual increase in federal spending is getting more and more likely to land us there by the week, but it is certainly possible that some good will come out of this difficult time.

Repeal ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’

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If you read my [quite lengthy] three-part series on Melissa’s and my conversion to Catholicism—in part because the church has not caved to modern moral relativism on issues of sexual morality—you might be surprised to find that I oppose the U.S. military’s longstanding policy of prohibiting homosexual persons from serving in our armed forces. President Bill Clinton’s (D) somewhat loosened policy—referred to as ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’—was an improvement, but it’s still pretty silly.

I personally believe that homosexual activity is a sin, and I cannot comprehend how any Christian who has read his Bible could believe otherwise, but when it comes to civil politics I support almost everything covered by the term ‘gay rights’ (excluding particularly radical things like redefining the millennia-old definition of the word marriage). What people do in their bedrooms, and who they choose to do it with, is not the government’s business. The U.S. government cannot and should not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

Nathanial Frank writes in a CNN.com commentary piece in much more detail than what I am writing today, and his argument is clear and sound. It’s also worth pointing out that it is absolutely ludicrous to prohibit willing men and women from joining our armed forces because of something that is not even slightly germane to their service. It is especially ludicrous today, when we are faced with constant threats and our military is struggling to meet its recruitment goals.

Tax Day and the Tenth Amendment

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Gadsden Flag

Today is, as many of you are surely aware, tax day in the United States. In my case, since I am usually entitled to a refund, I file my taxes as soon as I get my W-2s from my employer(s) and usually have my money back before the end of February . . . so you won’t see me in any late-night Post Office lines.

Tax day, however, is more than a day to file some paperwork to reconcile what’s already been taken with what is legally owed to our federal government. Today is a day to consider what the government does with all this money. This takes on new significance this year as we deal with an economic recession and a federal government intent on growing even more powerful and expansive.

Today, many of my countrymen are gathering at over 500 ‘tea parties‘ being held across the country to protest exorbitant federal spending and a government drunk on power it has not rightfully obtained from the people. I am flying the Gadsden Flag prominently today to join, at least in-spirit, with my fellow free-market, limited-government Americans.

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Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.