So how does my previous post tie into the threats facing America today?
The concepts of grievances, how grievances are addressed, and insurgencies apply to much of our current political world. We just (mostly) have agreed by certain rules that prevent it from turning into actual war. It's interesting how political commentary will use some of the same terms, except it'll be a "political insurgency" that gets played out in votes and rallies.
So - grievances, ways to have those grievances addressed, and leadership.
You have to remember what Europe was like back when America was colonized...this was at the height of Europe's religious wars. The Thirty Years War was just one example. Many people immigrated to the United States to get away from it all, and most accepted a live and let live approach. Or tried to...that's why we created a Bill of Rights. It helps set clear limitations on what the government can do, so that people don't get forced to worship in some other religion, or get stomped on for speaking their minds.
Our history is a bit more troubled than that, of course. The anti-Catholic history of the United States is really a rather interesting example, especially given how much attitudes have changed since then. Consider Maryland's state history, or anti-immigration attitudes towards the Irish and Italians, or the campaign worries about JFK's Catholicism.
Anyways. There's been intolerance, prejudice, and widespread support for laws against one group or another. There's been violence, lynch mobs and riots. There's been civil unrest. In short, some sectors of our society have grievances. And yet it's not, generally, been a clear case of one entire group against another.
The Civil War was not a slave rebellion against white rulers. There were abolitionists fighting for the end of slavery, Unionists who were still prejudiced against blacks but didn't want the country to disintegrate, and various other motivators. And so the Civil War was more white vs. white with support from former slaves. In a sense, you could say that the grievances were being addressed...slowly, painfully, and not always well. Yet they were addressed well enough that people kept trying to make the system work.
Our tradition of civil liberties and our Bill of Rights means that there are people who will support a group that isn't their own. And that's good, because our political fights are less about one ethnic or religious group fighting another, and more about what laws are in keeping with our evolving social norms...particularly with regards to civil rights. The schooling a naturalized citizen has to go through means many are even more familiar with our history and rights than our own native-born citizens...and many accept the beliefs laid out in the Declaration of Independence and our Bill of Rights as their own.
This, btw, is something people don't always understand. We have a long and ugly racial history, and it looks like a pretty obvious cleavage point. (In the right - or wrong - environment, it could be). And so enemies like al Qaeda try to weaken us by inciting racial conflict. And just as al Qaeda may have incited violence in Iraq by bombing the al-Askari mosque, we have people in the States who launch attacks hoping to start a race war in the US.
To bring this back to threats facing us today - we are not at the point where we're going to have a race war. Yet. Thank God we're not! There are definitely grievances tied to racial issues, but so far we're addressing them through accepted channels.
There are other grievances, though...grievances tied class issues, the shrinking of the middle class, globalization, economic change, etc. Since I'm keeping this at a more general level I won't get into the specifics of those grievances, just pointing out that they exist. And that it's when accepted channels for grievances fail that you really have to worry. Which brings me to my next topic.
(to be continued)
The concepts of grievances, how grievances are addressed, and insurgencies apply to much of our current political world. We just (mostly) have agreed by certain rules that prevent it from turning into actual war. It's interesting how political commentary will use some of the same terms, except it'll be a "political insurgency" that gets played out in votes and rallies.
So - grievances, ways to have those grievances addressed, and leadership.
You have to remember what Europe was like back when America was colonized...this was at the height of Europe's religious wars. The Thirty Years War was just one example. Many people immigrated to the United States to get away from it all, and most accepted a live and let live approach. Or tried to...that's why we created a Bill of Rights. It helps set clear limitations on what the government can do, so that people don't get forced to worship in some other religion, or get stomped on for speaking their minds.
Our history is a bit more troubled than that, of course. The anti-Catholic history of the United States is really a rather interesting example, especially given how much attitudes have changed since then. Consider Maryland's state history, or anti-immigration attitudes towards the Irish and Italians, or the campaign worries about JFK's Catholicism.
Anyways. There's been intolerance, prejudice, and widespread support for laws against one group or another. There's been violence, lynch mobs and riots. There's been civil unrest. In short, some sectors of our society have grievances. And yet it's not, generally, been a clear case of one entire group against another.
The Civil War was not a slave rebellion against white rulers. There were abolitionists fighting for the end of slavery, Unionists who were still prejudiced against blacks but didn't want the country to disintegrate, and various other motivators. And so the Civil War was more white vs. white with support from former slaves. In a sense, you could say that the grievances were being addressed...slowly, painfully, and not always well. Yet they were addressed well enough that people kept trying to make the system work.
Our tradition of civil liberties and our Bill of Rights means that there are people who will support a group that isn't their own. And that's good, because our political fights are less about one ethnic or religious group fighting another, and more about what laws are in keeping with our evolving social norms...particularly with regards to civil rights. The schooling a naturalized citizen has to go through means many are even more familiar with our history and rights than our own native-born citizens...and many accept the beliefs laid out in the Declaration of Independence and our Bill of Rights as their own.
This, btw, is something people don't always understand. We have a long and ugly racial history, and it looks like a pretty obvious cleavage point. (In the right - or wrong - environment, it could be). And so enemies like al Qaeda try to weaken us by inciting racial conflict. And just as al Qaeda may have incited violence in Iraq by bombing the al-Askari mosque, we have people in the States who launch attacks hoping to start a race war in the US.
To bring this back to threats facing us today - we are not at the point where we're going to have a race war. Yet. Thank God we're not! There are definitely grievances tied to racial issues, but so far we're addressing them through accepted channels.
There are other grievances, though...grievances tied class issues, the shrinking of the middle class, globalization, economic change, etc. Since I'm keeping this at a more general level I won't get into the specifics of those grievances, just pointing out that they exist. And that it's when accepted channels for grievances fail that you really have to worry. Which brings me to my next topic.
(to be continued)
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