Human Rights Violations in the USA : Theory Versus Practice Of all the nations in the world, the United States is perhaps the most vocal against human rights violations. Yet, this nation has increasingly become a great violator of human rights in recent decades. Most Americans are not aware of this because they keep busy with plenty of work just to make ends meet. Besides, they are unable to know what is going on since all the major news media is controlled by big industries headed by the weapons industrial complex. It is not in the interest of big industries to expose their methods of people's exploitation and the great suffering they inflict in the world at large.
Two Sides of the Coin
One Roman proverb says: Aliud est theoria, aliud est practica - One thing is theory, another thing is practice. In Italy we have a proverb which says: Tra il dire e il fare c'e' in mezzo il mare - Between saying and doing there is an ocean in between. When we speak of the United States we may speak about anything that is in it or that originates from it. This means, we may talk about the United States relative to its churches and religious gatherings and the countless missionaries sent overseas in poor countries to help people.
Besides, we may talk about billions of dollars that American people contribute to help make the lives of other people elsewhere better. We may talk of millions of volunteers who reveal to be kind and generous. At the same time, we may also talk of the American government and about the big industries, which try to control the nation through the exertion of their influence on the legislatures. In brief, we may talk of the real function and purpose of the American government, which serves for all practical purposes as a tool to promote the interests of big business, headed by the weapons industrial complex.
The product of such industries is promoted merely for profit regardless of the fact as to whether or not such product would be disastrous to our earthly community. This will enable us to understand why so many view the United States as the savior of the world when they look at the civic and spiritual side of the American coin. It will equally enable us to realize why this same nation is viewed as the greatest evil of the world at this stage of history, when analyzing in particular what the weapons industrial complex is trying to achieve by all means. Both views are correct when seen from a different perspective.
It is an undeniable fact that the most popular and acceptable organization in the world at large is the United Nations. When we speak of any nation on earth, we are generally speaking of the nation as presented by its present government and not as portrayed by its people. The actions taken by a nation are judged to be good or bad in relation to how it affects the people, both physically and spiritually.
Dark Side Exposed
As a capitalistic institution, the United States is not a democratic society. It is a plutocratic nation governed by the rich for the rich. Although theoretically the government is the ultimate authority in the nation, in practice the ultimate power lies entirely in the hands of big industry headed by the weapons industrial complex. This industry is primarily concerned with the sales of its lethal products to anyone who would give the right price, friends and enemies alike, as witnessed in the Iran/Contra affair. Just a little careful analysis of the current situation would be enough to make everyone realize that the US government is, in essence, a mere tool in the hands of the weapons industrial complex.
There should be a clear explanation as to why the United States was virtually the only nation in the world that refused to ban landmines and to abolish the manufacture and use of nuclear weapons. Landmines and nuclear weapons are two lethal products of the weapons industrial complex, which netted in their pockets countless billions of dollars. In most poor nations no one dreams of making any investment because of the numerous landmines found there. Among such countries we have Angola, Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, and Cambodia to mention but a few. Every week hundreds of children die of landmines and those who survive may spend the rest of their life with one or both legs amputated and/or with one or both arms lost. The American news media never provides news to the American people about terrors of this nature inflicted by American weapons. If the American people were to learn how much suffering their government has inflicting on other nations, they would surely take a stand and will do anything to stop the government and the vicious industrial weapons complex from the further pursuit of their objectives.
Some 2,400 years ago, Socrates said that every problem we encounter could be solved if we were to take the first step, saying: The first step to solve any problem we encounter properly and effectively is to bring the problem into the open for everyone to see. Once people become aware of such a problem they will soon realize how such problem is affecting them. At that moment they will take action and the problem is eventually solved. The question raised here is this: How can the American people become aware of the horrible pain their government is inflicting on the world at large through the rearmament of every nation conceivable? We need to figure out a way to let the American people know about the pain their government is inflicting ruthlessly in the world at large, since all major news media in this nation is controlled ruthlessly by big industry headed by the weapons industrial complex.
When a nation becomes powerful that does not mean that such a nation could do what it likes. Everything must be done with deep respect in accordance with laws of higher order. I am referring here to the divine positive law, the natural law and the ecclesiastical law. The divine positive law consists of the Ten Commandments we find in the Bible, which are found in virtually every religion conceivable. The natural law deals with the law of nature, while the ecclesiastical law deals with rules and regulations enacted by religious authorities.
American Violations of Human Rights
Human rights violations in the USA are too many to enumerate. Such violations stem basically from a blatant disregard of the natural law. Let us enumerate just a few of such violations to realize how dangerous this nations has become:
1. Human beings everywhere have a sacrosanct right accorded to them by the natural law to live in a clean environment free from toxics. The USA has abrogated the Kyoto agreement, which was meant to keep our environment free from air and water pollution. The purpose was to let big industries, headed by the weapons industrial complex, emit all the tons of toxic wastes they need to produce more of their lethal products for sale with no hindrances whatsoever. As a result millions are incurring cancer every year.
2.People everywhere have a sacrosanct right to live at peace through programs of disarmament and development of the human resources. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the USA, instead of developing a program of disarmament and development of the human resources, it embarked upon the greatest military build-up in history. People have a right to live in a world free of weapons and military alliances. The USA defied this human right and sought to please the weapons industry instead.
3.Human beings everywhere have a sacrosanct right to be the top priority of the government. This means that the government should put the bulk of financial resources primarily on the health care and educational growth of its people. The USA allots most money on weapons of destruction and the military. In this area, this nation spends every year more money than it spends for the needs of the entire country combined and than all the nations of the world combined spend on their weapons and the military.
4.People everywhere have a sacrosanct right, given to them by the natural law, for a free health care system and a free education from the cradle to the grave. The USA government has abdicated this vital responsibility by encouraging private business enterprise to take over these two vital elements, especially the health care system. This has forced people to buy insurances from private industries at lucrative prices. In essence, people in the USA have become tools of exploitation by insurance agencies.
5.Human beings everywhere have a sacrosanct right to be protected from the exploitation of big business, the rich and the powerful by their government. The USA, not only it abdicated such a sacred responsibility but, on the contrary, it has encouraged big business, the rich and the powerful to take over the control of the entire nation as far as the people are concerned. This is capitalism at work, which explains why Pope John Paul II condemned capitalism as being one of the greatest evils of the 20th century.
6.People everywhere have a sacrosanct right to feel safe both at home as well as in the streets and shopping centers. The USA advocates people's right to carry loaded guns, same as the police and the military. This has created a nation of terror where every year more people die by the gun than people die by the gun in all of the nations of the world combined. The constitutional phrase "the right to bear arms" has become a malignant tumor and the USA seems determined not to do anything about it.
7.Human beings everywhere have a sacrosanct right to be free from any outside dominance and to pursue a life of their own in peace. The USA has established military bases all over the world and it has established itself as the world policeman. The objective is not to safeguard the sacrosanct right of people everywhere but to ensure the dominance of American business in every global area. The primary job of the USA, as a capitalistic nation, is to promote the financial interests of American big business at any cost.
8.People everywhere have a sacrosanct right to dictate to their government where their tax money should be spent in terms of priorities. In this regard, the USA has ignored its own people by using their tax money for purposes most American people do not approve of by all means. I refer to the manufacture of weapons of all kinds including nuclear ones as well as the manufacture of landmines and the continued establishment of US military bases all over the world.
9.Human beings everywhere have a sacrosanct right not to pay taxes for the vital necessities of life, like food and medicine. The USA makes people pay taxes for everything conceivable in order to pass such money to that wicked industry known by the name of weapons industrial complex. It is a shame for a nation as the USA to have countless millions of its citizens living below the poverty level and to have one out of every five children suffering from hunger as verified by the United Nations in the year 2000.
Human rights violations in the USA may be witnessed in these videotapes: (1) School of Assassins, and (2) Arms for the Poor. Both may be secured from Maryknoll World Productions, P.O. Box 308, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0308. One may watch also these videotapes: (1) Why Military Spending Goes Up, (2) The Media and the Image of War, and (3) Conversation with Noam Chomsky. All of these may be secured from Center for Defense Information, 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20036-2109.
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
Alabama, U.S.A. |
