The Road to Serfdom is paved with good intentions, or at least intentions that have the appearance of being “good.” Barack Obama, in his historic race for the presidency, has put this dictum top of mind for many of us. Every day he says something that gives many pause and today we have a twofer.
A lot of chatter on the blogs about a line in a recent Obama speech: “We have got to have a civilian national security force that is just as strong.” Just as strong as the military, he means. His argument is that we cannot solve international problems with military action along and we need a separate branch of national security full of civilians with expertise in agriculture, engineering, linguistics, etc. Now for many, this conjures up images of the Hitler Youth or the Brownshirts. More specifically, what this is is an attempt to get as many people in the public sector as possible.
“If we’ve got a State Department or personnel that have been trained just to be behind walls, and they have not been equipped to get out there alongside our military and engage, then we don’t have the kind of national security apparatus that is needed,” he said. “That has to be planned for; it has to be paid for. Those personnel have to be trained. And they all have to be integrated.”
Apparently, this is a reworked version of an idea by current Secretary of Defense Gates. Altruistic or not, it means more government, more bureaucracy. Dovetail this with his call for more volunteerism from the nation’s youth and you get quite the little “domestic army” indeed.
On the surface, it’s not necessarily a bad idea, but you have to look at what’s behind it. Take environmentalism. In reality, it’s great when people decide to conserve, be less wasteful, look for alternative energy resources, etc. Those are good things, but the premise behind it is fatally flawed…the premise that mankind is destroying the planet and that consumption of any kind is bad. Here we have Obama looking to start a civilian national security force, but to what end? To help spread democracy in the Middle East? Hmmm…kinda doubt it. To be meals on wheels for the people suffering under appeased dictators? Natch. To brainwash a generation of Americans? Double natch.
And it’s ultimately to our detriment in the area of safety. A civilian army has to be paid for and raising taxes ain’t gonna cover it all. What then? Well, he would cut missile defense:
“I will cut investments in unproven missile defense systems. I will not weaponize space.”
Okay, so in a dangerous world where Islamic psychos want to kill us all or at least destroy our way of life, he thinks we should cut back on defense systems that could deter these little kooks should they get nukes and instead fund an army of linguist and agronomists. Feeling safer yet?
And speaking of linguistics, Barack has some interesting ideas on the subject of learning other languages. His belief is that spoiled Americans shouldn’t spend so much time worrying about whether immigrants are learning to speak English and should instead be learning to speak Spanish.
Again, here you have what is actually a good idea, but the premise underneath is ridiculous. It’s always a good idea for Americans or any people on the planet to learn other languages. It makes travel easier and more enjoyable. It’s a learning experience and could lead to other career opportunities. If you speak Arabic (and you’re not gay), you can get yourself a very nice job with the U.S. Military. But again, the premise is completely screwed up. What he’s saying is that it’s our fault. When immigrants have a hard time making it America and assimilating into our society, it’s our fault for not speaking their language, not their fault for not speaking ours. In the same breath, he gripes that we don’t speak European languages when we visit the continent. So which is it? Is it the immigrant’s responsibility or the native’s responsibility to learn the other’s language? As Captain Ed says, it smacks of America bashing.
This is the future, America. Either get used to it, or do something about it.
