Daniel Ellsberg, in the new issue of Harper's coming out next week, calls on government officials to leak US war plans for the Middle East to the press. I will assume someone who thinks this is a decent idea would have no problem leaking Pentagon war plans for Europe, Asia and defending North America.
We see now what liberal interpretations of the sedition and treason sections of the Constitution and supplemental federal laws have gotten us: a class of elitist bureaucrats who feel they are entitled to do anything they please, even if it significantly hurts national security. This is the ultimate application of the 60s hippie saying, "If it feels good, do it."
Perhaps Daniel Ellsberg and his supporters would say that he wouldn't leak the D—Day invasion plans, but if a liberal bureaucrat assumes all foreign powers attacks are the valid answer to past colonialism and imperialism and general white guilt, then nothing in the foreseeable future rises to the moral level of keeping the D—Day invasion plans secret. Thus, all "sophisticated and nuanced" government officials (presumably those who went to hear Khatami speak — with glee) can leak anything they want guilt—free. Starting from today, the Bush Administration — or any future administration — by not enforcing the sedition and treason laws, further hastens our decline and weakens our country.
Before the 9/11 docudrama was shown in New York on Sunday night, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, running in the primary for State Attorney General (he won), aired a commercial that summarized his work in the Clinton Administration and the liberal "intelligentsia" worldview. In a telling line, presumably written by the best liberal political advertising minds in New York, it had Cuomo saying "We spoke to their hopes, not their fears." Cuomo was all but saying that Democrats believe that we are at a point in "postmodern history" where anyone who believes we have enemies (and therefore someone to fear) are being prejudiced, racist, or whatever.
I can think of no better description of the liberal intelligentsia: the people who think everyone is their friend — or can be quickly persuaded to be their friend. We should not even speak about things that may increase fear or awareness of threats — or defend against them with secret war plans, even if they are not used.
When actor Ron Silver was an ardent Democrat in 1993, he made famous a verbal exchange he had while being involved preparing for the first Clinton inauguration. Seeing a display of military fighters overhead, he complained to a Clinton aide who told him that "those are our jets now." This reassured him and he repeated the now famous story to the press. You may also note that Ron Silver did not advocate in 1993 to release the flight plans of those military jets on Inauguration Day to the press. And he did not advocate that newspapers write articles on how to buy a shoulder launched Stinger—type missile on the black market.
But, strongly affected by 9/11, Silver made a major political change and appeared in the anti—Michael Moore DVD Fahrenhype 911, speaking in favor of a strong national defense. He specifically mentioned being concerned about protecting his wife and children in that movie. He also he spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention for President Bush.
There are those who would say, "Who are we to defend ourselves with prepared secret military plans — Nazis?" My reply is who are we not to defend ourselves? Traitors? These sound like two very extreme choices, but if someone is coming to kill you (have you boarded an airliner lately?), you are often left with two very extreme choices, i.e., kill or be killed. When the world was simpler, before the days of jet airplanes, atomic weapons, missiles, etc., it was commonly thought that two great oceans made such tough choices literally far, far away for most Americans. Many people, even after 9/11, find it easy to put such questions out of their mind and even argue we are wrong to even think about them. I don't know if the following rises to the level of a prediction, but I say it will become harder and harder to avoid a lot of very tough choices involving the safety of all of us and our families.
Jack Kemp (not the politician) 9 14 06
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