U.S. can’t force its values on others

Our leaders keep talking about our war on the terrorists as if we are chasing the Jesse James Gang. We have been led to believe there is a mean little group out there who want to destroy democracy. It is not a small group, or a mean gang; it is whole nations of people, whole nations of people who consider Americans arrogant bullies. They don’t hate democracy or freedom; they hate our politicians who are totally insensitive.

Our leaders think they have the right to decide what kind of weapons other constituted nations can or cannot have to defend themselves. They hate strong nations that abuse their positions of strength by declaring economic sanctions on other nations. We cut off their capacity to survive, to feed their children, to provide proper medical care. We do it to punish the abusive dictators, but it is the people who starve and, in their starvation, nurture a hate and a need for vengeance that mass produces suicide bombers.

We keep telling other nations that they will not be civilized until they adopt our form of government, and if they don’t we will do it by force. Nobody believed us until we invaded Iraq. Our Justice Department is taking immigrants from Arab nations out of their homes, locking them in cold cells with one blanket and leaving them there for six months without benefit of legal counsel or even being told the nature of the charges against them. Their families don’t know where they are being held or why. It is getting scary.

This type of behavior is not the United States of America that I grew up believing in. Our arrogance is so persistent and ingrained that we cannot see how we are offending other nations. Our leaders keep clubbing these hornets’ nests and then standing back with a fly swatter and tell everyone they have it under control. Our policies are creating terrorists. Until we learn to work with people throughout the world and accept their perception of sovereignty and teach by example instead of force, we will continue to be hated.

Of course we would all rejoice if the 50 or so nations ruled by sadistic dictators would change and provide freedom for their people, but the change must come from within.

We love our freedom because we fought and died for it. We cherish our Constitution because we created it to meet our needs, hopes and dreams. We do have a right to be proud, we do not have a right to impose our systems on others.

We cannot expect the peoples of Iraq, North Korea or anywhere else to fall on their knees and thank us for imposing our values and systems of government on them. The people must determine their own system of government, and it may not look like ours.

Hate begets hate, violence begets violence. Our war on terrorism will not be won by force. There are times when our ignorance is exceeded only by our arrogance, but we have learned from our mistakes in the past; perhaps we can do it again.


E. Kent Hayes is a Lawrence resident.