“We live in a world in which you can talk all you want
about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in
the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force,
that is governed by power,” Stephen Miller to Jake Tapper on CNN
Normally one would take such a pronouncement
as mere bar-stool-blather or water-cooler commiseration and dismiss it out of
hand; however, this statement came from a Mr. Stephen Miller, a close confidant
and advisor to the President of the United States. Mr. Miller and the President
have gone on record as being willing to take Greenland from Denmark by force if
necessary. Such statements are the antithesis of modern American political and
cultural thought. Of course, some will rightly point out that America did
occupy the continent, taking it from various peoples and nations by force. But
we’ve long since shed such violent and reprehensible proclivities. Turning back
the clock is not a real possibility; however, resurrecting such blatantly
imperialistic policies is not what civilized nations do.
By Mr. Miller’s logic, I could walk
down the street and take my elderly neighbor’s home, which is newer and larger
than mine, and his truck, which is also newer than mine. I’m bigger, stronger, haler,
heartier, and more vigorous. So, it is my right in the “real world” to take
what I want, even if it does not belong to me. Every parent of more than one
child has had to teach the lesson that you cannot just take something that
belongs to your brother or sister. Saying that we can just take Greenland
because we are stronger and have a bigger military would be a return to a
darker time, one in which the strong relentlessly preyed on the weaker.
Being a civilized nation means we
respect laws, national and international. We do not traverse the globe bullying
weaker nations. Yes of course, you may trot out times in which we did not
behave appropriately, and we bear national shame for such behavior. That does
not in any way excuse moral failure today. It is disgraceful for our elected and
appointed officials to publicly or privately speak of such things. Denmark is a
long ally, standing with us during the long years of the Cold War. They played
a part in deterring aggression by the U.S.S.R. For us to treat them in such a callous
fashion is disgraceful and unacceptable. It is a moral failure for our
government and nation to accept or support such belligerent and selfish ideas.
Some will say that this is mere
posturing an attempt to force a negotiated settlement. Again, this is not how a
civilized nation treats its partners and allies of long standing. Mr. Miller is
not an elected official. He is a close advisor to the President, enjoying
direct access to the Oval Office and the influence to shape policies internal
and external. His speech is thoughtless in the extreme and not representative
of what I believe is in the best interests of our nation and the larger global
community. As a nation with aspirations of positive global influence, we must raise
the hue and cry for a repudiation of such imperialistic policy as a relic of a
bygone era worthy only of being consigned to the ash-can of history and studied
as a national moral failure.
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