Nowhere is it written that America's great fortunes can’t be squandered
How many times now have we viewed images of smoking rubble around the world and said a silent prayer of gratitude that we have had the great fortune to be born in the United States of America, where in some respects our greatest problem is overexposure to Taylor Swift.
We have building codes that prevent obscene body counts in the event of natural disasters.
Our neighbors are Mexico and Canada, not Hamas and Hezbollah. A few hundred thousand Venezuelans crossing our border in search of hope and opportunity and work looks pretty sweet in comparison to hoards of enraged religious extremists who believe that the decapitation of children is a smart way to advance their agenda.
We might be hated in some dark corners of the earth for our perceived arrogance, but that comes with the territory for any successful franchise. Just like the New England Patriots. Most of our global brethren still look up to us and the ideals we were founded upon and that we still mostly stand for.
These freedoms and ideals have proved their worth. We have plenty to eat, our electricity is dependable, we do not live 10 people to a room. Liberal angst will suggest that this only came about through the displacement of indigenous peoples and on the whip-scarred backs of slaves.
It is true this is one part of our story. It is also true that unlike many nations we have the capacity, or maybe the luxury, to recognize past failures and maintain constant pressure to do better in the future. Change is too slow, but we do change. We are not like Putin or Hamas whose toolbox is limited to fifth century barbarism.
Most of our political leaders still seek public office because they want to improve the lives of their fellow Americans. They do not run on the grounds of retribution or to settle old scores. Unlike Putin and Hamas, we do not believe in the execution or jailing of our political opponents.
Our leaders do not harbor delusions of personal grandeur, empire or conquest. They do not honor themselves with grand military parades like the leaders of Russia, North Korea or Iran.
As much as we squabble and draw lines in the sand, when we’re really up against it, enough of our leaders are still willing to settle for less than total victory in the name of our nation’s best interests.
In an era of political gridlock, we have still managed to develop and distribute a vaccine that tamped down a pandemic; passed legislation that is rebuilding infrastructure, expanding technology and transforming our power sources to clean and cheap energy; and uniting much of the world in a fight against neo-Soviet tyranny. Other nations can only wish for gridlock like this.
In America, our judges have the independence to become a thorn in the side of the administration that appointed them. Elections are as free and fair as anywhere on earth. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but no one is above the law. Those who stand accused are offered every chance to prove their innocence in a court of law.
Yet nowhere is it written that these great structural assets and fortunes can’t be squandered. It’s happened to other great nations that took their advantages for granted. When we play footsie with authoritarians, pass laws to silence the opposition and treat compromise as an affliction not a virtue, we risk throwing it all away.
As we have learned, per its founding documents, Hamas does not believe in compromise. It does not believe in giving anyone a seat at the table but itself. It believes violence and brutality are justified in the furtherance of its cause.
Hamas came to power going on 20 years ago by promising to drain the Palestinian Authority swamp of impotence and corruption. The people of Gaza understandably wondered, “How can things be worse?” Today they know. But they no longer have a voice in their future, the abolition of the vote being among Hamas’ first actions on taking power.
The thought of gunmen ripping open the doors of our homes and dragging us to imprisonment or death based on our ethnicity or our stated opinions is so foreign to everything we know that it seems impossible or even silly. But it wasn’t silly to members of Congress who were in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, or Michigan public officials who were the targets of armed militias. They would have felt that same terror as Israelis huddled in their basements as marauders were at the door.
Our nation’s history tells us this too shall pass. But world history tells us that when leaders of mass, cult-like followings talk of jailing and executing their enemies, neutering an independent judiciary and brooking no compromise, it pays to listen before it is too late.
Tim Rowland is a Herald-Mail columnist.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hamas, Hezbollah examples of what happens with authoritarian rule
