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Second Guessing: A Prescription for the Defeat of a Nation

Dr. Domenick J. Maglio, Ph.D. Neo-Traditionalist

We have become a nation of “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”. Second-guessing those who put their lives on the line to protect the public is wrong. We train these men to rapidly respond in a crisis. Furthermore we expect them to be right 100% of the time in every situation. Their primary mission is to protect us by disarming potentially lethal suspects by any means necessary before they can harm anyone. Requiring our security personnel to analyze the legal nuances of their behavior before they act will paralyze them jeopardizing theirs and other’s lives.

A split second life and death decision cannot be judged fairly. It is impossible to put oneself in the shoes of a person whose life or that of others is in danger if he does not react instantaneously. A person in a life threatening circumstance does not have the luxury of time to weigh the pros and cons of his action. The response has to be automatic.

You have to limit the civil rights of a few to protect the security of many. Those who kill innocent people or act deranged abdicate their civil rights. The case of the American soldier in a terrorist stronghold Iraqi mosque and the air marshal in the Miami airport were trained to shoot when certain conditions existed. The sudden movement of an apparently dead terrorist and the disobeying of a direct order given by an air marshal to stop and not reach into a bag were cause for their deadly procedural responses.

The American soldier knew terrorists had been taught to be homicidal bombers to inflict death on their enemies while the air marshal knew his duty was to protect passengers from potentially deadly actions of others. Both of these men had no time to question the motives of these dangerous people.

The same reasoning exists for a nation. In time of war the civil rights of high risk citizens are limited for the protection of the majority of citizens. Granting terrorists the same civil rights as citizens of the United States is suicidal. This protection of the enemy prolongs the conflict resulting in greater loss of American soldiers and innocent citizens. It is time we challenge the strategy of coddling terrorists or we will face horrific defeat.

All wartime leaders from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War to the War on Terrorism have assumed war powers that have limited the civil rights of possible adversaries. President Roosevelt, in WWII even used internment camps to lock up people of Japanese, German and Italian descent. Civil rights of many groups of citizens were suspended for the overall security of America.

Common sense dictates to us that people in positions of authority need to have the necessary power, trust and the respect to do their work. By not empowering the people who are doing the difficult work how can we expect them to do it? We are undermining the fabric of our society.

People given responsibility without the power to accomplish the task leads to chaos. Authority figures by definition have more power and more inherent rights to perform their duties than those for whom they are responsible. The civil rights of a person normally are suspended when an authority figure is in the process of doing his job according to approved procedures and the law. Declaring terrorists equal in rights to uniformed soldiers, criminals to police officers, illegal immigrants to citizens, workers to boss, children to parents, students to teachers is undermining the sanctioned powers granted to authorities in society. People in authority are no longer given the power and the respect that comes with the position for them to function successfully.

No longer can we as a nation accept or encourage evil people hiding behind a shield of civil rights. A suspect should comply with the commands of a recognizable authority figure or suffer dire consequences. The supporting, not second-guessing of our parents, teachers, law enforcement and soldiers as long as they act within the law, will produce a more peaceful and stable nation.

During wartime the balancing of civil rights against the need of security leans toward bolstering security. The benefit of the doubt should be with the authority figures of the nation, especially with the commander and chief. The defeat of our nation by unmerciful brutal terrorists would be the permanent annihilation of civil rights replaced by the tyranny of evil.