issue 8 june

OpinionsAmerica’s CultureofDeathThe best way to bring intoperspective the culture ofdeath in the United States isto examine what this nationseeks to do in theory and then in practice.As the Romans used to say: “Theoryis one thing, practice is another”.As in virtually any other country in theworld, the American people are virtuallyhelpless in the sphere of politics. Inspite of the fact that the United Statesis a huge country with over 300 millionpeople, there are practically only twomajor political parties: Democratic andRepublican. Although the two partieshave quite a few things in common,they present very different agendaswhich often seem to be diametricallyopposed. However when the partiescriticise each other they have at leastone very conspicuous thing in common.Both tend to consciously employ wordsthat confuse people in an effort to bringthem under full control.The promotion and implementationof the culture of death in the entirenation has become one of the primarygoals of each of these two majorpolitical parties. Democrats tend tosupport abortion, which is condemnedby Republicans as murder. At times,Democratic politicians are rebukedand criticised by members of theclergy and leading religious groups.Besides, several clergymen exhort themembers of their congregation not tovote for political candidates who favourabortion. At this stage, the Democratsand their supporters try to find a wayout by devising a new vocabulary andstructuring a new phraseology. Theysubstitute the phrase “pro-abortion”with “pro-choice” so as to conceal thesavage nature of their stand as muchas possible. At the same time, severalwomen’s groups that view abortion asa woman’s prerogative have adopted anew terminology known as “women’sreproductive rights.”This phraseology has evolved intobecoming the mantra of manyDemocrats. Democratic senatorsand congressmen, and even the USpresident, routinely speak of “women’sreproductive rights.” A more recenttrend among Democratic politicians isto state openly that they are ‘personallyagainst abortion’, adding that the decisionto terminate a pregnancy is to beleft solely to the women involved.The Republicans, on the other hand, inspite of their ‘respect for human life’,Despite the American people’s goodwill and generosity towardsothers, the world at large judgesthe USA by the policies of thefew in government. Charles Mercieca provides an identikit ofwho they are and what they representalso have their own modus operandiwhen it comes to promoting the cultureof death. In order to further their ownselfish ambitions at home and abroad,they heavily back expenditure on armsproduction and sales. They are quick towage wars to achieve what they want,no matter how brutal they might be.In recent years we have seen two bloodywars and occupations in Iraq andAfghanistan. They saddled the nationwith a $2.2 trillion debt which theAmerican people are now being forcedto service by giving up their socialsecurity and medical aid. However,what makes it worse is the fact thatRepublicans refer to their destructionof the infrastructure of cities andthe massacre of tens of thousandsof people, amounting to millions, bythe well-formulated phrase ‘nationaldefence and security’!When the former Secretary of State,General Colin Powell, was asked byreporters how many Iraqis were killedwith American weapons, he was quickto say: “We do not keep a count of that;we view such incidents merely as collateraldamage”. While Republicans viewthe killing of the unborn as the terminationof an innocent life, they view themassacre of thousands of people merelyas the destruction of pieces of furniture.But it would be wrong to single outthe Republicans as warmongers. BothRepublicans and Democrats have beenheavily involved in almost every singlewar that the USA has fought during the20 th century.Both Democrats and Republicanscontinue to proclaim loudly that theUnited States is a nation of freedomand democracy! However, this is trueonly if one has a distorted concept ofdemocracy, one in which ‘freedom’ isof the kind that makes the governmentand citizens accountable to no one.It begs the question: if the United Statesdoes not even care for the welfare ofits own people, how can it possibly beexpected to care for the welfare of othernations? •Charles Mercieca is Presidentof International Association ofEducators for World Peace andProfessor Emeritus of AlabamaA&M University.4041