By Donald S. Conkey
Was the killing of Osama bin Laden a coup or was it a diversion. Perhaps it was both! It was a coup from the standpoint of him being on a presidential “hit list” for over ten years, but it was also a diversion to divert attention away from the ten years America has been spending itself into near bankruptcy. The question now, after the CIA found and killed bin Laden, is how does America recover from the devastation of potential bankruptcy?
On Monday, following the president’s announcement of bin Laden’s death, I woke up to the reveling of thousands of youth, youth who reminded me of myself nearly 66 years ago when I too went into the streets as a youth of seventeen to jump and scream following ‘VE-day in May 1945 and ‘VJ-day’ in August 1945. Perhaps they, as did I in 1945, think that the killing of bin Laden, like that of killing Mussolini and Hitler (suicide) in 1944 and 1945 was going to bring peace and security to a very divided world, a world that just may be on the verge of self-destruction.
I then asked at what price peace and security would come. Shortly after the announcement of bin Laden’s death the Atlanta Hawks announced that there would be enhanced security at the playoffs in downtown Atlanta – enhanced to the point of fans standing in line and scanned for weapons and bombs. Another sad day for freedom in America! Now, in addition to being patted down before entering an airplane Americans will have to be scanned before entering a sports arena or ball park.
In 1945 my thoughts were, as I danced and reveled in the streets of Caseville, Michigan, that after four long years of a horrible war where millions were slaughtered there finally would be lasting peace where America would soon be back to being America – the land of the free and home of the brave. How naive and wrong I was, and how wrong the youth of today are if they think that peace and security will follow the death of this one man – no matter how evil he was.
Did ‘VE-day’ and ‘VJ-day’ celebrations bring peace to the world? No, they did not! Peace is elusive! The ink on the armistice papers was not even dry before Stalin began enslaving Eastern Europe – and basically with the blessing of the US. In 1950 the Communists invaded South Korea and would have enslaved it has it not been for President Truman sending in the American military under General Douglas MacArthur, and the UN, who then drove the North Koreans back to the Yalta River before the Chinese sent in their troops. No victory celebration has ever been held. Nor was there a ‘V-day’ celebration in Viet Nam, nor in Cuba, nor in Middle East, either then or now. Today American troops are involved in three unwinnable wars – and still with no peace in sight.
Will war ever cease? Probably not, at least not until Jefferson’s “Creator” and “Supreme Judge of the World” comes in all His Glory and puts chains on Satan and his minions for a thousand years. And likely Americans, and the world, will not like the events leading up to this coming event.
Would the writings of the Founders shed any light on the challenges now facing America? The following quotes come from George Washington’s 1796 farewell address. Good advice for America then and today:
§ On foreign relations: “The great rule of conduct for us (America), in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.”
§ On the foundation of liberty: “Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in [our] courts of justice.”
§ On morality without religion: “And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever … the influence of refined education… reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
America’s divide today reminds me of Israel’s words to Samuel (1 Sam 8:6-7) “Give us a king to judge us.” Has America rejected their God, as did the ancient Israelites? I hope not – for the sake of America’s freedoms.