"Reflections: I miss Lady Liberty" in the Knoxville News Sentinel
Sunday, March 12, 2006 at 4:52AM Here is column #3 in the Sunday column series in the Knoxville News Sentinel. As I noted earlier last week, I really wanted to do something more intimate and conversational this time without straying too much from my expected subject matter. This way, I slowly but surely introduce myself as someone who can write global affairs and national security, but likewise use that content as a prism for more down-to-earth and personal observations, connecting the macro to the micro.
And here I'm very happy with the outcome:
Reflections: I miss Lady LibertyBy THOMAS P.M. BARNETT, tom@thomaspmbarnett.com
March 12, 2006I've worked in national security since the end of the Cold War, and I've got to say: I miss the old Statue of Liberty.
You know her, the one that used to welcome "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." That's the monument I grew up with, and she symbolized America's open door.
Old Lady Liberty's got a new job now representing national fear, and it saddens me deeply to see her image perverted that way...
I look into my Chinese daughter's bright eyes as she saunters past this morning and I suspect I have a column there...
Reader Comments (7)
Wow, great piece.
Best column you've written thus far.
Very well-structured and powerful.
Excellent article. I have read both your books and consider you one of the few strategic thinkers out there who "gets it".
Just when I think you may crawl into a cocooon, you write something great.
Here is some information I have written. You may be among a minority that sees what I am trying to say. The terrorist part is related to your article.
Do we all need to know more about the issues?
Who in either party makes decisions based only on the information that is known? Who looks for more information before making decisions? While we are busy working for a living, we rely on our congress and president to analyze issues and make decisions. We do not expect our representatives and senators to vote on bills they do not read. We do not expect our president to hide information.
When congress votes along party lines, are the senators and representatives making decisions based only on the information that is known? Do they look for more information? How can every republican think like every other republican or every democrat think like every other democrat? When republicans and democrats vote the same way on an issue, have they used all the information and looked for more information? The parties agree on the Dubai issue and on the NSA eves dropping. Are they agreeing on the issues or are they taking back the power that the president has taken from them, with little regard for the issues? For six years the congress and president have agreed. Although he did say he would veto a bill about Dubai, he did not get a chance to. Bush has not cast a veto in six years. How can that many people agree on everything for six years?
Answers to these questions may be found in a report from Democrats on the House Rules Committee, led by Rep. Louise Slaughter, Corruption Comes at a Cost: "America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption," This report examines the real world implications of the Republican scandals unfolding every day for the last six years.
Have we all been too busy at work to know about the goings on that Louise Slaughter’s report shows? The struggling people that John Edwards is trying to help may be too busy. Those 37 million Americans living in poverty are 12.7 per cent of the population, the highest in the developed world. That leaves 87.3 per cent of us that are either too busy or are simply not paying attention.
Whatever the reason, we have an $8.2 trillion national debt because of tax cuts, a war in Iraq and Afghanistan that we losing because we ignored information that shows how to win, a lobby reform bill that is dying when we know how to reform this fraudulent practice, an issue about eves dropping and privacy when we have a FISA law to keep these in balance, the gap between rich and poor getting bigger when John Edwards knows how to prevent it, a war on terrorism that is searching to kill terrorists when we know that we have to find out what makes a terrorist in the first place, a confrontation with Iran when we know that diplomacy with China and Russia could prevent it. If you want more examples, you can read the 118 pages of Louise Slaughter’s report and its 659 pages of backup documentation.
We all need to learn more about the issues.
A fine piece of writing. (at the knoxville sentinel they will wonder why so many people from all over the world are registering ;-)
Another sharp hard-hitter in a long succession ... here's to hoping Dr. Barnett can at least hopefully keep his loyal blog readers hopefully informed of his take on daily world beat hopefully hopefully
It was fun to write. This is getting to be a great gig. More fun than I would have realized. More liberating as well. I write what I want. They edit for flow. That's it!
And I realize what a power than can be.
Now for the hoped-for syndication.
I'll repeat my oft stated recommendation Tom: you need to find your way onto a weekly gig as a commentator on Hugh Hewitt's show. Hewitt has a very astute audience, and the rantings of desperate cold warriors like Frank Gaffney and Jed Babbin need to be countered in that thoughtful venue.