Osama Vs. George Washington

A US Congresswoman from Ohiois comparing Osama Bin Laden to the US Founding Fathers. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) expresses the thought that Osama and his ilk are "very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown." She apparently also believes that since the Middle East is being gripped by religious extremism, America should just stay out.

The US was founded on the principles of freedom. Osama and Co. want to found an Islamic kingdom based on the principles of repression. The goal of the US revolutionaries was to improve the lives of the colonists and they revolted only after attempting to work with the British crown. The goal of the Osamas of the world is to take civilization back to the 7th century and they do not want to understand why the rest of the world seems to enjoy the 21st century. The only similarity between the Founding Fathers and Osama is the use of violence to achieve their means. Our Founding Fathers were not perfect - they engaged in some questionable tactics - but they at least attempted to fight by civilized rules. Osama and friend believe that violence against anyone, even innocent civilians, is ok. Outside of violence, there is no similarity between Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Osama.

Miss Kaptur also expresses a naive hope that we can attack terrorism at its root. She thinks providing food and education will help to stem poverty in the terrorist breeding grounds. It is wonderful to think that giving food will help. But food can be redirected (see North Korea - the people starve, while the military eats very well). Education can be countered by propaganda and intimidation. Food and education will work only when there is a stable, non-kleptomanical government in place.

The US is already the target of the anguish and angst of the Middle East. That status will continue until the standard of living gap is narrowed. Our standard of living keeps improving. The only way to narrow the gap is to improve the Arab standard of living even faster. One advantage we have in this quest is that the base from which we are starting in the Middle East is so low that any improvement will be a huge gain. But to begin creating those improvements, we first have to create an atmosphere that allows for the freedoms to create wealth and knowledge. Only then will we be truly secure.