tp43.xml
Title
tp43.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-02-24
TomPaine Story: Story
While the political class fights over the mechanics of Homeland Security, few have had the courage to ask - why are we now calling ourselves a Homeland?
With the new Department of Homeland Security poised to devour most of the Executive Branch as we know it, this reorganization will militarize many functions of our civil government and vastly expand the direct authority of the Office of the President.
But even more disturbing is the notion of ""Homeland"" itself as
a cloak for our imperial ambitions.
The White House web site lists National Security and Homeland
Security as equal priorities. Pardon me, but what exactly is
the difference between National Security and Homeland
Security?
If we are now the ""Home Land,"" then what is our ""Away Land?""
This is more than just a semantic issue - the very need to
define a ""Homeland"" theater of operations within a larger
""National"" sphere belies our status as an Empire.
According to the Department of Defense web site, ""we have some
473,881 uniformed troops and civilian personnel both afloat
and on shore... in every time zone and every climate."" U.S.
submarines and warships ply every ocean, and communications
and spy satellites circle the globe.
In a subtle twist of language, we have expanded our defensible
national interest to include the entire world. This ""home""
versus ""away"" scheme also fits neatly into Bush's foreign
policy- Us vs. Them.
After 9/11, we asked, ""Why do they hate us?""
We should listen to ourselves for the answer: In most
dictionaries, ""homeland"" is a close synonym of ""fatherland,"" a
word often found in the company of ""ethnic cleansing"" and
""goose-step.""
So what's the matter with those stinking cowards in the U.S.
Senate? Can't they see we've got an Empire to run?
With the new Department of Homeland Security poised to devour most of the Executive Branch as we know it, this reorganization will militarize many functions of our civil government and vastly expand the direct authority of the Office of the President.
But even more disturbing is the notion of ""Homeland"" itself as
a cloak for our imperial ambitions.
The White House web site lists National Security and Homeland
Security as equal priorities. Pardon me, but what exactly is
the difference between National Security and Homeland
Security?
If we are now the ""Home Land,"" then what is our ""Away Land?""
This is more than just a semantic issue - the very need to
define a ""Homeland"" theater of operations within a larger
""National"" sphere belies our status as an Empire.
According to the Department of Defense web site, ""we have some
473,881 uniformed troops and civilian personnel both afloat
and on shore... in every time zone and every climate."" U.S.
submarines and warships ply every ocean, and communications
and spy satellites circle the globe.
In a subtle twist of language, we have expanded our defensible
national interest to include the entire world. This ""home""
versus ""away"" scheme also fits neatly into Bush's foreign
policy- Us vs. Them.
After 9/11, we asked, ""Why do they hate us?""
We should listen to ourselves for the answer: In most
dictionaries, ""homeland"" is a close synonym of ""fatherland,"" a
word often found in the company of ""ethnic cleansing"" and
""goose-step.""
So what's the matter with those stinking cowards in the U.S.
Senate? Can't they see we've got an Empire to run?
Collection
Citation
“tp43.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 23, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/692.