No principle at stake

Wish I'd said that!

[Reprinted from Issues & Views August 12, 2002]

The Middle East War is an unholy mess, in some respects like World War I with its unpredictable alliances and tangled tripwires. In large part this war is a legacy of British imperialism, which left unstable borders and unresolved disputes all over the place, from Palestine to Kuwait. No single principle or American interest is at stake, but the U.S. Government has meddled its way into it aimlessly, with the usual slogans about democracy and freedom--the sort of official talk that disgusted Orwell.

This has been going on for decades; September 11 merely served notice that the Middle East War will also be fought on American soil. This caught the U.S. Government by surprise, though it shouldn't have, and the American reaction was not to ask whether all this intervention was worth the price, but to redouble the intervention, even at risk of redoubling the price as well. . . .

According to our official mythology, "We the People" create the government. The truth is that the government is now creating the people. That is, it creates the kind of people it wants: ignorant, docile, weak, dependent. The kind Orwell noticed around him: Winston Smiths, who, far from seeing the state as their enemy, identify themselves with it.

-- Joseph Sobran, excerpt from "We the State," Sobran's newsletter, July 2002. For the most candid insights on culture, government and society, subscribe to Sobran's.

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