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October 09, 2005
Doing Your Duty the Right Way
Most people feel a patriotic inclination to do their duty for their country, some much more intensely than others.
"The lives and fortunes of many good Americans" says Richard A. Cheatham, "have been squandered over the decades in service to the flawed and often self-benefiting visions of American servant-employees, otherwise known as bold and brilliant political leaders. In fact, citizens in a free society must rule or they will be ruled. Either citizens are sovereign and rule, or another sovereign will rule them. There is no middle ground."
That is way I see it too. A person’s duty is to themselves, their family, and their community if they feel inclined to belong to one. What the government (any government, not just the one in Washington, D.C.) says is your duty (or its allies in religion, the media, or the schools) is nonsense. You owe them nothing.
That was the message I think Cindy Sheehan was trying to deliver before she got hijacked by partisan operatives in opposition to the Bush administration. Casey Sheehan volunteered to serve in the armed forces in order to defend America. So why then did he die in Iraq which is thousands of miles from the US and has never attacked America, (or even threatened to)? To do "his duty" I guess. False consciousness and misunderstanding reality is what really got him killed.
Rule yourself or others will rule you. Your principal duty is to yourself. People should only kill or die to protect their families or themselves and not for whatever reasons the government proclaims. To protect my family or my ‘hood, yes. Die for Bush, Clinton, the Post Office or the Department of Agriculture? No way.