This will probably be the most right wing sounding post I will ever make.
I'm reading a book titled Empire of the Summer Moon, by S W Gynne, about the protracted eighteen hundreds conflict with the Comanche Indians in the American South West. The book chronicles the brutal, random attacks by the Indians against the white settlers encroaching on the traditional plains Indians hunting grounds of the south west. It includes details of captives taken and the horrible torture and mutilation of the victims. Of course, it also details the cruel treatment and massacres of the Indians by the white settlers, the Texas Rangers, their Indian scouts and the Army.
From the day that Columbus set foot on Hispaniola, the native Americans fought an existential battle with the European invaders, and one by one the tribes were defeated by disease and force until, ultimately, each tribe was banished from its homeland. The Comanches put up a much better fight. With the aid of their modern technology, the horse, they were able to fend of the the Spanish, achieve dominance over all the other South Western tribes, and hold off American settlers for nearly 100 years. Ultimately they were defeated by overwhelming force, modern weapons, and, most importantly, a change in American attitude that put all options on the table. This meant that we abandoned the notion that we could convert hostile natives into gentle farmers through the use of treaties that neither side kept, and we offered enticements to encourage the Indians to sign these treaties. It also meant that we took the fight to them, destroyed their encampments, killed the buffalo that fed them, drove off or killed their horses, and murdered their women and children. A disclaimer here: I, like most Americans whose great-great grandparents were not from native stock, am glad that the Caribs did not shoot arrows and chuck spears at Columbus until he fled to his ship, and that the Indians fed and helped the pilgrims through the rough winter. Glad but somewhat ashamed.
So, I'm reading this book, and it sounds so sadly familiar. History is full of stories about invading hordes conquering native populations too weak or to unwilling to fight back. It reeks of atrocities heaped upon the native populations. It resounds with existential conflicts like that of the Palestinians and Jews, claiming the right to the same territory and locked in a battle to drive out or destroy each other. It repeats itself with the modern day Comanches, ISIS, the result of the marginalization of Sunni Muslims after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein coupled with the Wahhabi inspired terrorism of al qaeda. After reading this book, a couple of fundamental rules come to mind.
First of all, if you are in a fight for your very survival, there can be no rules. This is a concept that most liberals, including myself, find hard to swallow. This is true in American politics, where, at least from my point of view, Republicans have adapted to this policy through the use of gerrymandering, unlimited campaign contributions, and outright lying and distortion from the right wing pols and their mouth pieces such as Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, etc. This is also true in the case of our enemies, Again, I refer to ISIS. I have heard several of my otherwise reasonable friends claim that we are at war with the entire Muslim world. I don't believe this to be true, although we are certainly at war with the most radical elements of that world. However, I am afraid that as we justifiably battle these radical elements, we are at the same time creating a situation in which we will be forced into a war with most of the Muslim world. If that day comes, I hope we can remember this first rule.
Secondly, when Quanah Parker was asked by a visitor how the Indians allowed the white men to take over their land, he invited the visitor to sit with him on a cottonwood log. As he and the visitor talked, Quanah would occasionally scooch over until eventually the visitor fell off the end of the log. This seems to me to be the biggest driving force behind American politics today, "falling of the log". White Americans, and most especially white male Americans are increasingly afraid of being pushed of the log by dark skinned invaders from the south and by the darker skinned tribes we imported. From a demographic stand point, this fear has some merit. Low birthrate among whites coupled with the desire of millions of Hispanics for a better life in "el norte" signal a dramatic shift in the balance of power in this country. For the right wing of this country, the answer seems to be the consolidation of power by the soon to be white minority, and for the left wing, let the doors swing wide, we might get a few more votes. I suspect that a middle course of tough but not draconian enforcement of immigration laws coupled with even tougher enforcement of labor laws and absolute strict border control, including the force of arms, be used to slow the tide of immigration to the point that future immigrants can be successfully integrated into the American way of life. This would be the ideal resolution, but most importantly, we must follow rule number two. Don't get pushed off the log.
I encourage my few readers to comment on this post and to forward the posts to you friends.
