Thomas Paine's version of "you didn't build that":
"Separate an individual from society,and give him an island or a continent to possess,and he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot be rich. So inseparably are the means connected with the end,in all cases,that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained. All accumulation, therefore,of personal property,beyond what a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice,of gratitude,and of civilization,a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came"
Submitted by Leah
THE DEBATE… Robert Scheer: A War Of Absurdity… New Documentary: Rethink Afghanistan… Jeff Stein: Gen. McChrystal Is No MacArthur… Malou Innocent: Defining Victory To Win A War… Derrick Crowe: McChrystal’s Strategy Is Not Working… Jon Soltz: Questions All Americans Should Ask About The War… Marc Lynch: What’s Wrong With Muddling Through?
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Human Rights, US Middle-East Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
This is, again, what Bush and the neo-cons have left us. If, instead of invading Iraq (for what purpose?), we had focused on capturing bin Laden and had invested a fraction of what we have spent in Iraq (and continue to spend) in relief for the Afghan people (for example, building schools for their children to become educated and citizens of the world, which now, belatedly we are doing), we could have co-opted the Taliban and al Queda in Afghanistan. Instead, we abandoned Afghanistan for the illegal and immoral war in Iraq. We will now see what the consequences of such stupidity and arrogance will be.