Ends Can Justify the Means

Interestingly enough, there has been many thoughts and writings about democracies needing to be created peacefully from within. A form of peaceful revolution, where men and women revolt against their government through slipping a piece of paper into the ballot box. however, that is not always the case!

I was listening to the BBC on my XM Radio and they were discussing about the government of Mauritania. Now, there was a military coup that ousted the corrupt government and then began forcing democracy. On the Freedom House rankings, Mauritania is listed as partly free. Turkey is another example that an iron fisted ruler modernized the nation, effectively bringing secularism to the former Ottoman Empire.

The point I wish to make is the fact that nations sometimes need to be crushed in orde4r to have democracy reign. Post-WWII Germany was more susceptible to democracy because the Allies beat it into submission, similar to Japan. Sometimes, in the geopolitical world of Realpolitik, the ends justify the means.

Unifying Constitution

I never cease to be amazed at the brilliance of the Founding Fathers. I just completed a paper about James Madison and the creation of the Bill of Rights. Within that paper I wrote about Madison's desire to foster a unifying factor and superceding power for the people. He decided that the Constitution can help preserve that.

Sparing all the boring historical details, he made it so the people would be loyal to this document, and this document would bring majorities and minorites together. Unpopular religious, political and ethnic minorities will be protected from tyrannical majorities. It is a very beautiful thing that people can live with an independent authority that is unchanging and holds us to our ideals. Madison was a genius.

Even though Rosie O'Donnell says idiotic things and believes that Iran is right in the British Hostage Crisis, we must allow her to speak her mind. Though I think that she is wrong and insane, I cannot bar her from speech, for my loyalty to the Constitution says no.

Confront Culture

Changing culture is very important for a nation in order to progress. I am reading a book right now entitled The Central Liberal Truth and within the pages lies the belief that some cultures are more suited for prosperity than others. This is utterly blesphemous within some anthropology and social science circles. But I think that the case studies he gives help prove his point.

Lawrence Harrison believes that some nations need to reject certain aspects in order to succeed. Catholic cultures need to reject the authoritarianism, and once they do they succeed. As seen within Italy, Ireland and Quebec. Protestant cultures, on the other hand, teach people to think for themselves and become literate. A lot of the prosperous nations in the world, according to the World Bank and UN charts are in fact Protestant. Confucian/Far East nations also have an inclination towards progress, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are well adapted for success. Some nations have a hard time adapting to democracy, and needless to say places like Iraq really do not have a hope!

Turkey is Islamic, yet through strong leadership it was made better and more free. Afghanistan now has a strong leader who is pushing for democracy, and according to Freedom House, it is listed as Partially Free in 2006. Leadership and politics can reform a society. Using education and confrontation of the weak things within the nation can propel a society into international prominence.

The Anti-Free Speech

General Pace, the commanding officer in Iraq, recently became a target when he said that homosexual acts are immoral. Now I do not want to discuss whether or not being gay or lesbian is wrong, but I find it incredibly disturbing that people are trying to silence him.

General Pace has devoted his life to the Armed Forces and people are trying to strong-arm him into shutting his mouth when his views are unpopular. These views are backed by many people within the USA, as seen in the plethora of states passing Marriage Definition Amendments. This man fought for the First Amendment, but we should keep him from stating his views! Absurdity!! Why can't he express his opinions? I swear, Orwell's Thought Police from 1984 is becoming ever more real...

I find it so hard to believe that those who allow pro-gay marriage shirts on school campuses in the tradition of free speech also outlaw pro-traditional marriage. Also liberals believe that anti-war protests should be held on the weekends, yet Jim Gilchrist should be harassed in a closed college auditorium. Conservatives also can have a strain of this, with the near-comical bumper stickers "Support our Troops! Support our President!"

Realization

Recently, there has been somewhat of a controversy over an innoculation against HPV, a virus that causes cervical cancer. Many activists are decrying this as nothing less than liberals trying to get innocent young girls sexually active. HPV is transmitted sexually, and this vaccination will create the resistance against the virus.

All I can say is that parents need to wake up to the fact that there children could be active sexually. And this cancer can even come about later in life, in a marriage relationship. If you had the power to stop a cancer through a vaccine, why wouldn't you give it?

So the answer is don't give it? Merely for a political statement. Tragically, at the cost of your daughter. Selfish politics.

Living Out One's Faith

In Lesslie Newbigin's Gospel in a Pluralist Society, there is a passage that deals with Christians living out their faith. He says,

How is it possible that the gospel should be credible, that people should come to believe that the power which has the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross? I am suggesting that the only answer, the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live by it.

This passage seems to suggest that people within the Christian faith needs to be prophetic in their challengings, in addition (and perhaps more importantly) lead people through their actions. For the act of prophecy will only carry weight when Christians back their words up with action.

Once again, I am drawn to the tale of William Wilberforce, who overcame the stiff opposition of parliament members to outlaw the slave trade. He pushed hard from a Christian conviction, being in the world, not of it. How beautiful that God is able to use people like Wilberforce to denounce evil and also champion morality through his life. We ought to do this. I know that I want to make my life matter, and it will only matter if I live out my faith. This is an excellent hermeneutic.