Dear Friends:
The U.S. government has been fighting a moral battle within its own ranks about many things:
1. What to do about a flagging domestic and worldwide economy...hearing petitions for bailouts from industry groups and institutions and trying to determine what action to take; this involves a great deal of time, a fight against legislative inertia, a fear regarding public opinion, a propensity to yield to the pressures which all too often precede putting a bandage on a cancer, and numerous other Hobson's choices in the interest of polishing a pile of compost. Sadly, many of these decisions will result in even greater problems for the country's future, including continued inefficiencies, inflation and the creation of a "corporate welfare state."
2. What to do about the detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, many of whom have been held without formal charges or any form of "due process" since the terrorist attacks on the United States of 9/11. Many of these individuals may well be completely innocent of any offense, but they were unfortunate to get caught in the net of braod fear and paranoia that possesses a country under attack. Part of the government believes that these people have been denied any type of rights, recourse or remedies -- they have been captive for more than six years without being formally charged and without an opportunity to present their case -- while another branch of the government insists on keeping these "detainees" (calling them "prisoners" might entitle them to certain constitutional and civil rights) locked away while appealling the decision of the other branch (in this case, the judiciary) that these people be treated as people, and released immediately. The detainees are the ultimate victims in a battle between two branches of the same goverment which are unable to reach an agreement. And the years go on...
Governments cannot solve many problems. When they attempt to intervene, the "cures" prescribed are often worse than the diseases. When proper decisions are made in a rarity of cases, these decisions or their implementation comes far too late -- not unlike liberating the prisoners in a concentration camp after they have been malnourished too long to survive.
As citizens of our respective countries, and as citizens of the Internationalist Community, we are unfettered by the mindset, malaise and politics which keep governments from "fixing" the problems of peoples and commerce.
We are called upon as Citizen Ambassadors to create change and to solve problems as individuals, in cooperation with other individuals, and to form teams which transcend geological barriers and isolationist traditions in order to implement solutions. We need to be partners. We need to become team participants. We need to organize and to implement with humanitarian and entrepreneurial efficiency.
We cannot leave our salvation to highly compromised governmental bodies which move at a glacial pace and ultimately shoot at flies with cannons.
Faithfully,
Douglas Castle, Internationalist
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