Scheppele, the Cold War, and 9/11
The more things change, the more they stay the same.....
While reading Scheppeles essay on Law in times of emergency, I found myself agreeing with her as to the reasons we might be failing in our foreign and domestic policies. We have not, and may never let go of our Cold War mentality. Why? Its too difficult. Gone are the days of Congressional checks on power, and thanks to FDR, gone are the days of a politically impartial court. (i.e. packing the courts) It is safe to say that in the days following World War 2 and the first shots fired in the Korean War, the shift of power domestically has permanently shifted to the executive. As the Constitution adapted to this change of power, and as the other branches did as well, the executive branch changed but failed to evolve. The notion of Cold War power exists today, and while the rest of the world has moved on, we have failed to do so.
I think the best spotlight of this exists in the form of the European Union. While there are nations fighting the War on Terror abroad, they're doing it very sensitively and without compromising domestic rights and liberties. These nations have abandoned Cold War protectionist ideals for a more open viewpoint on how to fight this new style of war, a war that cannot be militarily fought the war the United States fought in Grenada, Nicaragua, Vietnam, etc. Militarily overstretched, we have our executive going with a clear and present danger threat to Iran right now, as we are fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, with heavy military presences in Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and a small fighting/advising contingent in Somalia. This seems to be the position the terrorists like best: spreading America out, then causing chaos. They cannot overrun the United States, just from a tactical standpoint its a sheer impossibility. But they can militarily and financial destroy it, and they have found the perfect way to do it: our flawed system of thinking and through simple political theory. It seems to me that the government is going about this with the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it mentality". Well, just because your 1950's Ford fairlane still runs, it doesn't mean its reliable, safe, comfortable or logical. Sometimes, you just need to admit defeat and update your reality.....
While reading Scheppeles essay on Law in times of emergency, I found myself agreeing with her as to the reasons we might be failing in our foreign and domestic policies. We have not, and may never let go of our Cold War mentality. Why? Its too difficult. Gone are the days of Congressional checks on power, and thanks to FDR, gone are the days of a politically impartial court. (i.e. packing the courts) It is safe to say that in the days following World War 2 and the first shots fired in the Korean War, the shift of power domestically has permanently shifted to the executive. As the Constitution adapted to this change of power, and as the other branches did as well, the executive branch changed but failed to evolve. The notion of Cold War power exists today, and while the rest of the world has moved on, we have failed to do so.
I think the best spotlight of this exists in the form of the European Union. While there are nations fighting the War on Terror abroad, they're doing it very sensitively and without compromising domestic rights and liberties. These nations have abandoned Cold War protectionist ideals for a more open viewpoint on how to fight this new style of war, a war that cannot be militarily fought the war the United States fought in Grenada, Nicaragua, Vietnam, etc. Militarily overstretched, we have our executive going with a clear and present danger threat to Iran right now, as we are fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, with heavy military presences in Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and a small fighting/advising contingent in Somalia. This seems to be the position the terrorists like best: spreading America out, then causing chaos. They cannot overrun the United States, just from a tactical standpoint its a sheer impossibility. But they can militarily and financial destroy it, and they have found the perfect way to do it: our flawed system of thinking and through simple political theory. It seems to me that the government is going about this with the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it mentality". Well, just because your 1950's Ford fairlane still runs, it doesn't mean its reliable, safe, comfortable or logical. Sometimes, you just need to admit defeat and update your reality.....
posted by Ian S. Crawford at 13:54
1 Comments:
Ian,
Good first paragraph with a nice focus on the Cold War. Your 2nd paragraph gets a little carried away. Be sure and make reasoned arguments based on evidence, close reading, etc.
2
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