Jim Austin

His previous columns are archived HERE.

JIM AUSTIN

Goodbye Jesse Helms

In addition to achieving a more balanced government for this country we have several other reasons to give our thanks and gratitude to Senator Jim Jeffords.

Because of his courageous move out of the Republican Party we will no longer have to tolerate Jesse "the Great Satan" Helms in his capacity as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Many Americans, me included, have been ashamed that Helms was allowed to influence, and in many cases dictate, American foreign policy.

It was as if the Senate had appointed "Bugsy" Malone to chair a committee on organized crime. Helms has consistently shown that he is unable to countenance anyone who is not white, heterosexual, and preferably from the South.

He has proven himself unfit to deal fairly with minorities in his own state, yet because of the long standing allegiance of his white-trash constituency in North Carolina, he has acquired enough seniority in the Senate to inveigle his way into a chairmanship that he is ill-suited to hold.

Jesse Helms was surely cited by the members of the U.N. Human Rights Committee as a reason why the United States should be excluded from this year's committee.

There is no doubt that the U.N. was sending a message to the U.S.

Predictably, our knuckle-dragging politicians jerked their knees in unison, thumped their pigeon chests, and ignored the message.

Historically, the U.S. has been abysmally insensitive in foreign policy arenas.

We think that we are knights in shining armor charging around the world in defense of liberty.

A bit of analysis shows that while our hearts may be in the right place, our ability to empathize with diverse cultures is sub-standard at best.

We can go back to early U.S. foreign policy and revisit Teddy Roosevelt and his "big stick" policies.

He toppled the government of Columbia so that he could buy land for the canal from the Panamanian rebels.

Do you think the Columbians have forgotten?

The Vietnam war was a result of unbelievable arrogance and double-dealing on our part.

We promised Ho Chi Minh that we would support his independence from France after WWII.

We lied.

We then bumbled into a war that cost us dearly.

Why the Vietnamese don't hate us more is beyond me.

More recently, we can point to the Clinton administration's selfish decision to fly in the face of international will and refuse to ban landmines.

Why?

Because we need them in the demilitarized zone on the border between North and South Korea.

And landmines injure farmers, women, and children 9 percent of the time.

Big deal.

The Kyoto Protocols would have set emissions standards for all developing countries.

The United States refused to sign.

Once again, we proved that short-term political gain came first and the health of the planet came second.

Remember, this was not a pack of greenies insisting that we dismantle our industrial base.

It was a policy for thirty-eight industrial nations setting a standard for greenhouse gas emissions for the years 2008-2012.

The world was clearly stunned by our refusal to recognize the science behind the proposal.

The final straw for the European Community may well have been our plans to go forward with the Star Wars initiative.

It seems so reasonable-- doesn't it? -- that we should be allowed to defend our nation against missile attack?

Well it isn't reasonable to anyone else.

If we spend billions on a satellite "defense" system, what else do you think it might be used for?

If we plan to shoot projectiles from space to intercept incoming missiles, do you think it might be possible for us to launch nuclear warheads from space as well?

Do you think that might make China, North Korea, and other not-so-friendly nations a bit nervous?

We use an economic stick to bludgeon countries into accepting our will.

How much resentment, distrust, and hatred will we arouse when we have encircled the earth with weapons of mass destruction?

In your wildest dreams, do you think we would allow any other country to do this?

Are we capable of using nuclear weapons to get our way?

There has only been one nation in recorded history that has used nuclear weapons on another.

Guess who?

I don't think most Americans want to rule the earth.

History is littered with the remains of immoral societies that have tried.

We can be the most powerful nation on earth and be part of a cooperative global community as well.

Getting rid of ignorant insular rednecks like Jesse Helms is a start.

Getting rid of the Cheney/Bush administration in 2004 is the next logical step.