Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"One of [goldsquare's laws is] 'The Judge doesn't solve your problems. He solves his.' This has been true even when the 'Judge' was any other sort of authority figure." -- goldsquare, 2005-09-22

I meant to write an essay a couple of months ago about this, but kept putting it off. Given that tomorrow is election day, I'll jot a just-the-highlights version now.

Here's the thing about "If you [do X | don't do Y | vote for the other party] then the Terrorists will Win!" fearmongering, and about the "We can't let the bad guys get what they want" cries that go along with that. It's short and simple, and the only thing I'm not sure about is how obvious it is to anybody else:

I don't care as much whether 'the terrorists' win, as I care that we not lose. I was tempted to phrase that as "I don't care whether ...," but in all honesty I do care -- bad guys getting what they want by (or in spite of) being bad does rub me the wrong way, and I'd rather see them get their just desserts -- but when it comes down to it, whether you call it selfishness, a hierarchy of loyalties (loyalty to my nation above loyalty to the rest of my species), or simply not wanting to do more harm than good, I can live with knowing about bad guys getting some benefit they don't deserve far away more easily than I can deal with losing things that I consider precious.

I am not, of course, talking about my guitars and my books, nor the availability of relatively inexpensive food and a broadband Internet connection, as much as those things mean to me. I'm talking about my life, the lives of my loved ones, and my culture, my nation, my fundamental liberties, and my nation -- there are a great many things to value about my nation, starting with its foundation on principles of liberty, justice, and democracy.

If you believe that "They hate Us for our freedoms," why destroy our liberties for them instead of being stubbornly American and resisting? And if you believe we cannot give Them what they say they want Over There because then "they will have won," why are you letting Them set Our agenda? As much as we'd like to not give them any points, isn't our own well-being more important?

I'm not talking about appeasement (like "give them what they want and they'll leave us alone" ever works). I'm talking about being in control of our own agenda, deciding what is important to us first and not giving so much weight to what is important to them, and not destroying a culture and a political system that can be such a force for good just to destroy the people who we're told want to destroy it.

So there it is. I care more whether America loses -- whether Americans lose -- than whether The Terrorists do or don't get any of the things they want. Spend money, even sacrifice some convenience, for effective security measures, but don't spend our liberties and our ideals. Spend money, and even some blood as needed, to fight those who would try to do us harm, but fight as Americans, upholding our ideals, instead of comitting torture and mocking our very own idea of justice and fighting where we don't actually have to.

And when someone says, "... or The Terrorists will win," ask instead what we will lose. And if you're feeling altruistic, ask what the world will lose by the dimming of our own light.

So agree with me or disagree with me, but vote intelligently tomorrow. Vote as though your soul depends upon it. Because your nation's soul does. If you vote differently than I would, let it be because you've thought it through and disagree about what is best for you, for us; not because someone claimed that denying some boogeyman what he wants is more important than what we want for ourselves.