Pictures of people protesting in the streets of Pakistan leave Americans in bewilderment: Why do they hate us so?
Because they have been taught to hate us. For generations upon generations, they have been taught that we are infidels, responsible for all the evils in the world, responsible for all that’s wrong in their country, responsible for the poverty and suffering they are forced to endure.
That’s what happens under totalitarian rule. When government controls what people are allowed to learn, people learn only that which serves the interests of government. The principles of freedom are not in the interest of any totalitarian regime. Consequently, these people who burn the American flag, raise their fist in rage at America, and readily offer to sacrifice their lives in suicide missions of jihad, are to be pitied more than scorned.
They have never known a government empowered by their consent. They know only that government is the realm of the most powerful. That’s why blood flows when government in totalitarian regimes changes. That’s why civil war preoccupies and drains many nations of their resources. That’s why these people are destined to a life of poverty and suffering.
But they are told that their plight is the result of our prosperity, which was stolen from them. And the people have no other source of information. They are taught from birth that people who live outside their narrow belief system are infidels – instruments of Satan.
They cannot comprehend the first, most fundamental principle of freedom: Any right that I claim for myself, I must grant to all others. They are taught that those who do not accept their belief system have no rights at all. Not even the right to exist. They are taught that they are doing “Allah’s will” when they rid the world of infidels.
How do we respond to this totalitarian travesty?
We rely upon – and exercise – the principles of freedom.
We can, as a nation, recognize that any right we claim for ourselves, must be willingly granted to all other nations. This means that our brand of freedom cannot be imposed upon any nation. But it does not protect any nation from our determination to defend our citizens. We seek no new territory, nor do we wish to inflict harm on any neighbor. But any nation that seeks to do harm to our citizens is a legitimate target.
Our best opportunity to display the benefits of freedom, as opposed to the tragedy of totalitarianism, will come after the military action wanes. Afghanistan, and perhaps other nations, will be in turmoil. Former, hate-mongering leaders will be dead, or hiding in caves somewhere. A new crop of would-be leaders will be vying for dominance. We, as a matter of policy, will be confronted with three options.
We can walk away and let the most powerful emerge as the next totalitarian regime. Or, we can turn the whole mess over to the UN, and let a more civilized, and more expensive, totalitarian regime emerge. Or, we can offer help to those who want to help themselves.
There will be great pressure to let the UN sort it out and oversee the rebuilding that will be required. This option only postpones another inevitable, much broader confrontation between freedom and totalitarianism.
We should try to identify those prospective leaders who are willing to experiment with the first principle of freedom – leaders who are willing to believe that if they claim the right to embrace Islam, they must grant to us, and to all others, the right to embrace any other religion. Until there are leaders in Afghanistan, and all other countries, who are willing to take this first, fundamental step toward freedom, all else is an exercise in futility.
There are those in every nation who would be willing to take a chance if they realize that this principle is the foundation of freedom. Once this tiny spark of truth is ignited, the flame of freedom can flicker, and people can warm to other ideas – such as an uncontrolled media and the truth that legitimate government power arises only from the consent of the governed.
This option is the only way to replace the hate in the hearts of the protesters. This option is the only way to end the cycle of totalitarian dictators that have kept much of the world in poverty. While we rightfully bomb bin Laden and his buddies into the pits of Hell, we need to be planning a strategy to put an end to the hatred that produced them.
