This legacy of the Korean War came as a huge surprise at the time. American soldiers captured by the Chinese army were forced to attend classes daily on Communist doctrine. Many, too many, came to believe what they were exposed to. This was the shocker. "How could this be?" We all asked ourselves. We are patriotic are we not ? Of course we were, and so were our soldiers. And that is still the case. Those are the facts, and we were perplexed at the time. How could that not have been? After all, this was an entirely new dimension of war, to us at least.
It took this site editor a good long while to realize that it could not have been otherwise. And our
godless adversaries had figured that out and were able to take full advantage of our cultural ignorance, some might say weakness.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Sunday, December 01, 2013.
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It would seem so. Consider:
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Founders |
Today's wranglers
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After much wrangling and mutual ill-feeling, political rivals come together. It started out badly. John Adams in particular feared that all might be lost in 1776 when he commented on the proceedings of the Continental Congress when its discourse proceeded.. "by noise, not sense, by meanness, not greatness, by ignorance, not learning, by contracted hearts, not large souls." He went on to conclude, "There must be decency, respect and veneration introduced for persons of authority of every rank or we are undone. In a popular government, this is our only way."
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Our once-great governance system is now virtually paralyzed. Attack ads and name calling have become the orders of the day. Our inherent trait for dominance has had so little restraint in recent years, on both the individual and national scales, that we already may be beyond the tipping point. With national bankruptcy now seeming possible, we still persist and maybe even prefer dangerous paralysis to moving forward. Indeed, over the last two decades, Congress now sees fit to threaten a shut down of government. Indeed in one case it did just that. Individuals put now themselves ahead of public welfare. And corporations not only arm their leaders with golden parachutes, but by becoming too big to fail, they have now built a new system for controlling politicians beholden to them--and for the 99% of us, we see fit to bail them out. Meanwhile the military-industrial complex drives on to making the American empire ever more complete. How can they get away with it? Propaganda. It won the day for Hitler. It could happen here.
"What is in it for me?" and the short view now reign supreme in our late democracy which is now too much like a plutocracy to avoid that definition and label. Things will get worse before they get better, barring an autocratic takeover by the monied.
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To be sure, there are lights of reason on both sides of the aisle. John Roberts, in his gutsy vote with the Supreme Court liberals in tossing Obamacare back into the laps of Congress, joins our first black president, whose gutsy daring rid the world of Osama bin Laden in a minority of lights-of-reason in a dark window.
We deeply admire two kinds of people: Those who can break from dogma and follow the light of reason for all people and those who can overcome the adversities of racism and bigotry.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Monday, July 23, 2012.
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Editorial
On this page we honor those whose public activities personify peace on earth. Content will change as events develop.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Saturday, September 03, 2005.
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Excerpted From Time Magazine
We offer this page because it touches dramatically on the need for a World Reformation in times of terror.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Saturday, July 23, 2005.
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Forewarning Heroes--there were three. They were not without voice--they just weren't heard.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Saturday, July 23, 2005.
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Who is an American?
(Anon: circa Oct/Nov 2002)
You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Saturday, July 23, 2005.
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FROM ROMANIA:
RECOGNITION (AND ENVY) OF THE AMERICAN ETHOS AND LAN!
Subject: Editorial from a Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei
Posted by RoadToPeace on Saturday, July 23, 2005.
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Flight UA 93
Dateline 11 Sept 2001;
The world was stunned--even Osama bin Laden--by the effectiveness of loaded civilian airliners used as missiles of war.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Saturday, July 23, 2005.
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Updated 30 April 2010
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it. -- Mark Twain
The first key is in being able to decide rationally if the government deserves it. The second key is to develop enough information to allow a rational choice. How to do that is not always obvious or straight forward. Is our choice automatic, or or is the result of enough study to define the issues in terms of what is best for humanity, our country, our neighborhood, our families, and for us as individuals? What priority do we give each rung in the ladder? These are not easy questions since things are not black and white. A further complication is that in things social, what is good today may not be tomorrow.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Saturday, July 23, 2005.
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Patriotism flavors vary. What they share is allegiance to an organized entity. In Western and European minds patriotism is allegiance, love, and zealous loyalty to one's country.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Saturday, July 23, 2005.
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Book Review
"1776"
David McCollough
Start reading this little book and you are unlikely to put it down. McCollough does a marvelous job of blending human strengths and weaknesses with accurate history.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Thursday, July 21, 2005.
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