August 24, 1996
First Anniversary Issue!
Those who accuse Bill Clinton of being a liar are over-reaching. He is not lying when he speaks to the public, because he is not conveying information. What he is doing is using words to create an effect, an impression he desires to leave with us, telling us what he wants us to believe, about himself or about whatever he has in mind at the moment. This process has nothing to do with truth or falsehood: he does not consciously eschew the truth. If the truth worked, if it would produce the desired effect, he would not hesitate to use it.
Common sense is the most widely shared commodity in the world, for every man is convinced that he is well supplied with it.
... Rene Descartes
"I saw the time when Logres was only myself and one man and two boys, and one of those was a churl. Yet we conquered."
"It could not be done now. They have an engine called the Press whereby the people are deceived."
... C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength
The announcement of Dole's choice of Jack Kemp was still warm in the air when the howls began: "A supply-sider!" Recall that this canard means that Kemp believes the money taxed away by government belonged to you to begin with. Contrast this with the standard economic model, in which the money you keep after taxation was actually allowed to you by the government. After all, who printed it?
Recently, my wife and I were watching a report on the President's activities in opposition to terrorism, including a retrospective clip from the President's meeting in the Middle East with the heads of several other countries last spring. The clip showed, among other things, Yassir Arafat mingling with the western world's presidents and prime ministers, all of them presumably preoccupied with the vicissitudes of world terrorism. My wife said, "That bothers me." When I asked what bothered her, she explained that the notion of Yassir Arafat collaborating with the other heads of state bothered her, in the sense that, being a terrorist himself, Arafat should not be advising the world as to how it should fight terrorism.
Of course, she is right. Arafat is one of the principal architects of the immensely impressive and influential edifice of world terrorism, almost one of its inventors. He certainly raised it to a new level of success and prestige. His appearance among the heads of state legitimates the terrorist ideal: if you blow up enough innocent people, the world will give you what you want. He was a collaborator in covert terrorism: he is now, presumably, an overt collaborator in suppressing terrorism. I have no doubts about what he really is.
Which raises a question: we resume our daily activities in defiance of terrorist threats because we do not want to "give in" to terrorists; we will not let terrorists win, in that sense. Airline traffic continues; the Olympics go on. Why, then, would we grant the terrorists the victory of shrinking our constitutional rights? Does that not "give in" to the terrorists in exactly the same way as, for instance, not taking the bus any more because terrorists blew up a bus? The anti-terrorism bill presently in Congress does just that. It is filled with provisions that reduce or penetrate our fourth amendment immunities. Morally, passing this bill is indistinguishable from cravenly huddling inside our houses for fear of terrorists.
We have been reduced to this kind of thing because our government does not have the moral courage to place the blame for terrorist acts against Americans where it belongs: on those who are at war with America, namely, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Palestine, and so on. An attack on Americans anywhere by these entities or their representatives is an act of war: they mean it in that way; we should take it in that way. The only proper response is to take the war to them. A terrorist attack should and must prompt a military response.
The terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center are a good case in point. They are not criminals, at least not in the domestic sense; they are prisoners of war. As such, they do not deserve the immunities due to citizen criminals. They should be interrogated with military (approved) adversarial techniques to determine their funding, direction, the extent of their organization, and their plans for the future, using veridical drugs, if necessary. Then, they should be turned over to the Hague for prosecution as war criminals. Their sponsors should be addressed militarily in whatever way seems appropriate.
One important point to remember about terrorism: it is a strategy adopted by causes that are weak, weak almost to the point of impotence. Its leaders are weak and insecure. Its adherents are few and furtive. Its sponsors are secretive and vulnerable. Of all the forms of aggressive war, it is the most easily defeated. The only attitude that permits it to flourish is the refusal to recognize it as a form of war.
When it was determined that the Berlin disco bombing was the work of Libyans, President Reagan sent F-111's in response. A few more doses of that should dampen the spirits of the sponsors of terrorism. And if it doesn't, send more. Eventually, it works.
The tax cut President Clinton promised in 1992--we got it. I know the cynics doubt this, but look: he wanted and planned to raise our taxes by 20%; he only actually raised them by 8% -- hence a 12% tax cut. If it works for the budget, why not for taxes, too?
I heard Sarah Chang again this summer, in Aspen, at the Music Festival. This time she presented Prokofiev's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, No. 1. It was simply perfection. I also heard an impressive, new (to me) conductor, David Robertson. American-born, he has been since 1992, music director of the Ensemble InterContemporain of Paris. After conducting Sarah Chang, he led the orchestra in an absolutely magical performance of Stravinsky's Petrushka, the original 1911 version. Robertson is a true student of this music, one who knows how to convey his vision to the orchestra. He is a conductor to watch for in the future.
I had the pleasure of sharing the Aspen Music Tent with none other than Dr. Stephen Hawking, who was visiting Aspen for the summer. It seems that he worships at the same altar I do. Art transcends all, for a while.
All contents © Copyright 1995, 1996 by Redmon Barbry ¶ 9:45 AM
