I’ve seen a lot of people smeared lately for making statements about 9/11 being an inside job, or for believing the United States is in a constitutional crisis–possibly on the brink of disaster. It seems that anyone who holds these views is fodder for the “nutcase” campaign–whether on Fox News, or in online forums and blogs.

The world is a complicated place. There is no doubt that I have some wrong notions. My instinct, for example, has been wrong on several occasions–whether in judging a person’s character, or in ascertaining the veracity of historical documents. Sometimes I wish it were different, but it’s clear that my perspective of the world as a whole is incomplete. I assume that this is the case for everyone else, too.

I respect people’s point of view, however, even though I know we all see incompletes. In fact, for those whose view of current affairs sustains America as the zenith of freedom and liberty in the world, I honestly hope they see something I don’t. I hope the government is not as corrupt as it seems to me. I hope September 11th was not, somehow, allowed or made to happen by our government. I hope that President Bush is a good man who will use his new-found powers of secret imprisonment, secret torture, secret trial and secret execution only to protect America, its people, and its values.

But at the same time, I can’t quiet my conscience on these matters. I can’t permit myself, knowing what I do, to turn a blind eye to politics and history. My father taught me that “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” When I see the executive branch of government gaining power at the expense of the people, I call it corruption. When I read articles whose headlines summarize: “Supreme Court Trims Whistleblower Rights,” “Innocent People Placed on ‘Watch List’ to Meet Quota,” and “Senate Rejects Habeas Corpus in Interrogation Bill,” I feel indignation rise up in my soul. Like Nazi Germany, all that America’s government requires of us is that we do nothing while it changes the foundations upon which we were built.

Degree by degree, from my perspective, this nation is changing. According to Milton Mayer’s “They Thought They Were Free“, that’s exactly what happened to Germans. From my perspective, I have only one choice. Finem respice. Consider the end. Principiis obsta. Resist the beginnings.