And you think that other unseen forces are making him do all of these terrible things, then take that reasoning process just ONE step further.
What you’re saying is that one individual, even the most powerful politician in the world, cannot do the right thing because of the forces that surround him.
You are saying, in effect, that the problem is the system and not who is elected into office.
Even assuming that someone like Barack Obama has the right intentions and goodwill in his heart, he has been completely unable to follow his heart and do what is right because the system that he sits at the official pinnacle of won’t let him.
Even if you believe that someone else is forcing him to push for bombing Syria, that is exactly what he IS doing: acting as pointman for the carrying out of the “supreme international crime.”
What we all have to deal with – and confront as reality – is that this is what he and the rest of the political leadership of this nation are doing: they are not honoring what the American people want, they are knowingly violating the central tenet of the UN Charter, they are trying to legitimate a massive war crime of bombing Syria through a massive PR offensive, trumped up intelligence, and a phony Congressional “debate.”
If you believe that we live in a democracy where public office holders are beholden to the will of the people and that this adherence to the people’s will is the central principle in play, then why is the Congressional leadership of both parties rushing to endorse Obama’s plan, even before Congress as a whole is back in session? Why isn’t Obama who serves at the will of the American people, abiding by his Constitutional duty to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,” as his oath of office specifies? Why did he say very publicly before putting his plan to bomb Syria before Congress that he will not be bound by Congress if Congress votes down his proposal to bomb Syria?
If you think that he’s only doing this because he has to because he’s beholden to other forces around him who are more powerful than him, then doesn’t this mean that it is the system that is to blame and that to fix this monstrous situation means that we have to expose the nature and workings of this system and mobilize the people to change the system? Systems don’t change by working within those systems. Systems by their nature permit and encourage only those channels that operate overall to reinforce the existing system. If you go through “channels” to try to change the system by the rules that that system operates by, then you will not change the system. It is only by going outside of the existing channels and by ignoring and/or flouting the existing acceptable modes of thinking and doing that you stand a chance of really doing anything. It is only by insisting on and fighting for an entirely different path of thinking and doing that opens up that avenue for others to see and follow that you will be doing something of real value.
In short, follow to their logical conclusions your essentially correct belief that Obama cannot do the right thing and act on behalf of you and others doing exactly the right thing. It’s up to you.
Dennis Loo is a member of the Steering Committee of World Can’t Wait. His website is dennisloo.com.