POST-GAZETTE - Res Publica

War and Piece

by David Trumbull

January 28, 2005

Even if it weren't vital to my in-depth study of the adult escort service industry in Boston, the Boston Phoenix would be a must read. Some of the best unintended humor in Boston is found in that weekly freebie's political pages. On President's Bush Inauguration Day, the Phoenix urged readers to join "Not One Damn Dime Day." The point of this protest was to: "Remind the people in power that the war in [fill in the blank], is etc, etc." Surely the economic disruption caused by all 12,000 NODDD members snapping their wallets shut on January 20 would register with Bush et al.

Being one of the 295,314,251 Americans who was not part of "Not One Damn Dime Day," I listened with eagerness to Bush's Second Inaugural Address.

President Bush carefully laid out the argument for American intervention in Iraq and other regions of the world that "simmer in resentment and tyranny --  prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder." He promised that America will work to spread freedom, because without freedom "violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat."

We have seen what happens when that simmering hatred --the bastard child of oppression and hopelessness-- becomes the prime motive for the actions of desperate men. Hatred of the West motivated men to fly airplanes into buildings. They hate us because we have freedom, while they have none. And they hate Israel because Israel is an outpost of Western freedom in a region full of repression.

Increasingly, we are learning that the biggest threat to our liberty is not, as both conservatives and liberals have worried, from our own government turning despotic. Nor is it, as in our wars from 1812 through the Cold War of the 20th century, the threat of invasion by some foreign power. "We are," said President Bush, in a compelling phrase,"led by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."

We are in Iraq to advance the cause of freedom. Americans will, by every means available, fight to preserve our Life, our Liberty, and our Right to the Pursuit of Happiness. After all, if the Phoenix cannot run advertisements for "ALTERNATIVE ENTERTAINMENT Exotic Dancers Bachelor Parties Birthday Parties 2 & 3 girl shows!!!" Why, then the terrorists have won.

David Trumbull is the chairman of the Boston Ward Three Republican Committee; he may be contacted at (617) 742-6881 or chairman@ward3boston.org. Boston's Ward Three includes the North End, West End, part of Beacon Hill, downtown, waterfront, Chinatown, and part of the South End.

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