The "America in decline" meme is pretty popular these days, with people on the left, right and in between offering examples demonstrating that we're not quite the powerhouse that we used to be.
I have my own favorite example, one that exemplifies a whole range of issues on which we appear to have lost our nerve and become a fearful, cowering nation. That example is Guantanamo Bay.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal set off a stir when it reported that President Obama is exploring ways to override a congressional ban on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay and finally bringing the remaining inmates here to the mainland. The administration responded to the story by confirming that yes, it still wants to close Gitmo, but denying that it is drafting options to bypass Congress on the issue.
Nonetheless, that was enough to put the issue back in the headlines. "Why is the White House even discussing this as we battle a brutal enemy that has beheaded two Americans,?” Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican, said in a statement. “Bringing dangerous terrorists into the U.S. makes no sense and sends the wrong message to our enemies and allies."
House Speaker John Boehner quickly seized upon it as well, demanding that Democratic candidates for the House be forced to address the issue. "Even as Islamic jihadists are beheading Americans, the White House is so eager to bring these terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to the United States that it is examining ways to thwart Congress and unilaterally rewrite the law. Not only is this scheme dangerous, it is yet another example of what will be this administration's legacy of lawlessness."
And in Kansas, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts tried to jumpstart his faltering re-election campaign by promising to conduct a one-man filibuster of the Senate if necessary to prevent the relocation of even one terrorist from Guantanamo to the maximum security prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
What on earth are you so scared of, people?
During World War II, our grandparents and great-grandparents housed hundreds of thousands of Nazis in ramshackle prison camps around the country, but we, their descendants, now shake in fright over the prospect of putting a few dozen terrorist suspects on U.S. soil and housing them in super-max top-security prisons from which no one has ever escaped? We're treating these men as if they're comic-book villains possessing evil superpowers, and we humiliate ourselves by doing so.And of course, we're seeing that same dynamic play out over the Ebola situation and the supposed threat of ISIS guerrillas infiltrating our southern border. The United States of America, which spends more on its military than the next 12 or 15 countries combined (most of whom are allies), which likes to see itself as "the exceptional nation," and by geography alone is better protected from outside threats than any country on the planet, is cowering under the bed, or would be if certain people had their way. There is no rational thought behind such emotions; it is fear.
Call me crazy, but I'm more willing to take advice on Ebola from public-health officials with decades of experience in containing outbreaks -- and often displaying incredible courage in doing so -- than I am from talk-radio hosts, fear-mongering politicians and "Fox and Friends". I'm perfectly content relocating prisoners from Guantanamo -- which costs us $2.7 million per inmate -- to facilities here in the United States, where the annual cost would be closer to $78,000. I live less than four miles from the medium-security Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, and wouldn't have the slightest concern about housing them there.
Those who are trying to scare you are trying to get you to stop thinking. It is a technique of control. That is true of terrorists, and it is true of those right here in this county who are urging you to be fearful. I used to think that we were a stronger people than that, but every day the evidence to the contrary mounts.
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