Sunday, October 31, 2004
Think About it:
These terrorists come from places like Saudi Arabia where the standard of living is very high, yet the separation between the wealthy and the poor is ever increasing due to population growth and income redistribution under socialist policies. Once again, the disenfranchised, angry, or resentful find solace in a church ever too willing to accept them.
These terrorists come from places like the Gaza Strip. Where decades of rule by a pseudo-government and religion has created a land of squalor and hopelessness. Again, of anger and jihad. Where it is preferable to commit suicide in the name of religion than to raise a healthy family. Where, again, the fundamentalist church exercises control over a down-trodden population.
Here lies the complete problem. The inherent removal of personal freedom is what drives young men and women into fundamentalist Islam. If it was not enough to be oppressed by a government, by a society… it is much more to be silently oppressed by a welcoming religion. A form of a peaceful religion that does not guarantee personal freedom until Jihad is waged or a person has committed the ultimate sacrifice while in the name of Allah. While those who wail the sounds of war sit comfortably in their unimpeachable positions of authority.
It is not possible to wipe the Earth clean of this type of religion. It is possible, however, to spread freedom from one country to another. From man to man, from woman to woman. To their children. To remove a dictator from power so that in his wake is left the fruits of democracy. Of personal choice. The idea of self-determination and hope for the future.
It is possible to remove a government that forces the stoning of pregnant women in front of a cheering crowd of thousands, where the game of soccer was once played instead. It’s possible that country could then democratically elect a leader to bring women to their rightful place beside, and not behind, men.It is possible to let these actions force other despots to rethink the directions of their lives and their country. To voluntarily give up weapons and weapon programs intended to kill thousands when the time warrants.
Cynicism is not an answer. Nor is it a method of change. One must believe in the power of a single man as an agent of change as strongly as those believe that murder is warrior’s weapon.
This election on November 2nd is not just an election for the President of the United States of America. It is an election for the entire world. It is an election where the United States will show the world, for good or for ill, how we stand up to the ideas of terrorism.
Conceding to the demands of terrorists is impossible. As was shown in another country, at another time, to cave into the demands of those who would kill innocent men, women, and children is a decision that beckons only more violence. Presently, those who voted in reaction to a terrorist attack are now trying the same terrorist organization in response to direct possibilty of a second attack.
