"A Nuclear Submarine Captain and The
President"
from "In Defense of Rural
America"
By Ron Ewart,
President
National Association of Rural
Landowners
and nationally recognized author and
speaker on freedom and property rights issues.
©
Copyright Sunday, March 9, 2014 - All Rights
Reserved
As published on
Newswithviews, March 5, 2013
This article is also
available on our website at:
SIDEBAR: Ladies and
gentlemen. We have received some complaints recently that we are being too
tough, strident and caustic in our articles. We submit that we aren't
being tough enough. The fact is, if we are not stirring your blood,
we aren't doing our job. If Americans are so timid and afraid of
government that they don't want to hear the truth and from that truth,
challenge the government, at any level, then America has absolutely no chance of
saving itself ..... from itself. Fear paralyzes and renders the fearful
impotent. Fear is the worst enslaver of all. If you fear the
government, local, state, or federal, then we strongly suggest you don't read
our articles. From our perspective the government, at all
levels, has become arrogant, abusive and tyrannical and is fair game,
especially to those of us with courage, a free mind and an indomitable
spirit.
"Power, without honor or trust, is tyranny." Ron Ewart, national author and speaker
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The other night we watched the Crimson Tide movie
again with Gene Hackman as Captain Ramsey and Denzel Washington as Executive
Officer (XO) Hunter, commanding a nuclear submarine, the Alabama.
The Alabama is sent on a mission to destroy a Russian naval and missile
base that had been taken over by Russian rebels who were threatening to fire
nuclear missiles at the U. S. if the rebel's demands weren't met by the
Russian Government. The Alabama received an order
from central command to fire their nuclear missiles at the Russian naval base,
but while submerged and preparing to launch, it came
under attack by a rogue Russian submarine. During the attack a
message came in from central command but was cut off mid message.
The Alabama ultimately destroyed the Russian submarine, but in the process
of the fierce battle, it lost its radio and thus could not
confirm the content of the second message.
The crux of the movie was about the dispute
between Captain Ramsey and XO Hunter over the decision to fire nuclear missiles
and the potential dire consequences, without knowing what was
in the second message. The Captain was determined to fire, but
the XO was determined to not fire until the 2nd message was received in
full. In the end, the radio was fixed, the message came in and central
command had rescinded the order to fire the Alabama's nuclear missiles.
The Captain was wrong and the XO was proved right, thankfully.
But this time as we watched the movie, it was
different somehow. We were suddenly struck by the parallels between the
operation of a nuclear submarine and the operation of a Constitutional
Republic. A nuclear submarine has virtually more destructive firepower
than all the weapons fired in World War II. With 24 nuclear tipped
missiles, each having at least 10 nuclear devices in them, a nuclear submarine
can rain Hell fire down on targets that will totally obliterate them, along with
tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousand lives. That is just
one nuclear submarine. The United States has many nuclear
submarines.
The United States of America, under the command of
the President, controls the firepower of the combined army, navy, air force,
marines and coast guard. No nation on earth has this much power in the
hands of one man that can pull the "trigger" to save the nation, or pull the
"trigger" on an insane whim. The captain of a nuclear submarine and
the President of the United States have the same exact awesome responsibility
and it is only different in the degree of how much firepower each can
unleash. The captain answers to the President. But the President
answers to ..... ?
In theory, a nuclear submarine operates to
preserve Democracy, not to practice it. In contrast, and as designed,
a Constitutional Republic operates to preserve a Democracy as well, but
with a different set of less-rigid instructions. The nuclear submarine
operates under the intransigent and fixed Rules of Navy Regulations and a chain
of command from which there can be no deviation without serious consequences for
the offender. A Constitutional Republic operates under the Supreme Law of
the Land, the U. S. Constitution, and the laws that are passed in concert
with the Supreme Law by a representative government. Consequences to
any violators of the Supreme Law are left up to the people, that is if the
people care to hold the violators to account.
On a nuclear submarine, or any other American Navy
vessel, the captain is the supreme leader and the supreme law, subject to the
Rules of Navy Regulations. In a nuclear submarine,
"boys are trained to do a terrible and unthinkable thing, and if
that ever occurs the only reassurance they will have that they
are doing the right thing will derive from their unqualified
belief in the unified chain of command", (from
the movie) as delineated in the Rules of Navy Regulations.
Each member of the boat's crew (a submarine is a boat, a
surface vessel is a ship) must have an undying belief in the
capability of the captain to fulfill the duties for which he is charged, in the
hopes that in the performance of those duties he will not needlessly
sacrifice the crew, or violate the Rules of Navy Regulations. That strong
belief finds its foundation in the words immortalized by General Douglas
McArthur ..... duty, honor, country.
Exhaustive training hones the captain and
the crew to act as one, within the capabilities of the boat, in the
fulfillment of the captain's duties. The human weaknesses associated
with power and ambition and the uncontrolled emotions of irrationality,
anger, or overt compassion can cloud the captain's ability to fulfill those
duties and so the crew is taking that risk when sailing with any captain.
Nevertheless, the crew can in no way affect, alter, or modify the captain's
decisions, for that would be mutiny. The captain has absolute power on the
boat and his words and deeds cannot be questioned, unless he is in
violation of the Rules of Navy Regulations, which did occur in the Crimson Tide
movie. The fact is, it is impossible to effectively prosecute a war
by a committee, governed by Robert's Rules of Order, if the goal is to win
the war.
So let's analyze the contrast between a submarine
crew and the American citizen. Under the U. S. Constitution, the
American citizen has considerably more latitude to alter or modify the
government of a Constitutional Republic than a ship's crewmember has on any
water-born vessel, where the captain has absolute power. In fact, in a
Constitutional Republic, the power of the government is derived from the power
of the governed, if we are to believe the inviolate words of those that founded
this great nation.
In a Constitutional Republic, Americans are
supposed to be taught to have trust in their government to do what is
necessary and right under the rules of the Supreme Law of the Land, in the
direct interest of the preservation of individual liberty and in the direct
interest of the preservation of the sovereignty of the nation as a
whole. Americans will only have that reassurance that the
government is doing the right thing, if they have
the unqualified belief and trust that the government will act to preserve,
protect and defend our Constitution. Each American must
have an undying belief in the capability of the government to fulfill the
duties for which the government has been charged, in the hopes
that those duties will not needlessly sacrifice any one individual, or
group of Americans, or will dismantle the foundation of freedom. That
strong belief finds its foundation in the meaning of the word,
"trust."
If the people do not trust their government to
preserve individual liberty, be honest and forthright with the people and
be true to their oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the
United States, if they cannot trust their government to abide by the rule of
law, then the entire system breaks down and we become a nation of the
lawless under a lawless government. That condition is a recipe for
the declaration of martial law and the path to fascism, or a
dictatorship.
When the president of the United States, members
of Congress, or any chief executive or members of a legislative, city,
county, or state body, willfully lie to the American people to deceive
them for political purposes, or ulterior motives, there can be no trust in
government, or the rule of law and the system is on its way to breaking
down. When law becomes so complex, complicated and undecipherable such
that there is no way for the people to reasonably comply with the law, the
system HAS broken down. In these trying times of a divided nation
over two radically opposing ideologies, America finds itself at the merging
of these two conditions. Today, government does lie on purpose for
political purposes and ulterior motives to deceive the people, government has
become a power unto itself where it does not respect the rule of law, it only
respects its rule by fear and intimidation of the people, and finally, the
laws have become so complex, complicated and undecipherable that
no normal, reasonable and prudent person can comply with them, making
virtually every American a lawbreaker in one form or another.
Lying by one person for whatever reason is
deceit. Lying by government on purpose for ulterior motives or to increase
its power over the masses is racketeering, corruption and quite possibly
fascism. As Stephen King stated, "the trust of the innocent is
the liar's most useful tool." If the people are so innocent,
naive and uninformed, then they have no defense against a lying and corrupt
government, nor do they have any redress against unconstitutional or
complicated laws for which there is no way to
comply.
But the fact is ladies and gentlemen,
we cannot with these words change the mindset of a nation who does not care
who leads them, or are collectively oblivious to their leader's existence,
or the rules under which they lead. We cannot make people cognizant of
reality or convince them that their "innocence and ignorance is the
liar's (government) most useful
tool." We cannot awaken a nation that does not want to
be awakened, or a nation that is perfectly comfortable with its
ignorance, apathy and mindless slumber.
You cannot by force or other means,
convince an alcoholic to mend his ways if the alcoholic does not fervently want
to mend his ways. And thus it stands that one person or a thousand
voices cannot by force or other means, convince a nation that it lies on
the path to ruin, until that nation as a whole gains the collective mindset that
it wants to detour from that path. Even if ten thousand voices
shouted freedom from the rooftops, as they are now doing all over America in
print, on the Internet and on the air, urging the people to see the "light", it
still will not be enough if a high percentage of the masses refuse to
be awakened. As just one author with a limited audience, we might as well
stand on the top of a mountain and blow into the east wind for all
the impact we are having.
Whether a sea ship captain, or the
president of the United States, the ability to govern effectively rests
solely on the trust of the people over which each must command.
Without that trust, without honor in the leaders and in the
people, government breaks down and when government breaks down due to
lack of trust and honor, so order must breakdown as well. This is what we
see in Syria, the Ukraine, the Sudan and Venezuela, or any other country
where trust in the government has evaporated. When trust and order break
down, what takes its place is disorder, mayhem, brutality, carnage,
disease and death. This is the not too distant future of America
if it continues down the path it now treads.
The question remains, will that
nation once conceived in liberty, gain the necessary collective mindset in time
before all trust and honor are gone and disorder, mayhem, brutality,
carnage, disease and death sets in, because the liars (government) used the people's innocence and
ignorance to enslave them.
But then, as a humble writer with a limited
audience, there is no way we can predict what the future holds. The
outcome depends solely on whether enough Americans will awaken from their
innocence, ignorance, apathy and mindless slumber ..... in time. All we
can do is provide truthful information and sound the alarm and we are doing so
with our weekly articles and on our two powerful websites HERE and HERE. But
is anyone listening? If responses to our articles are any indication, it
would appear not.
Ron Ewart, a nationally known author and
speaker on freedom and property issues and author of his weekly column,
"In Defense of
Rural America",
is the President of the National Association of Rural Landowners, (NARLO)
(http://www.narlo.org) a non-profit corporation headquartered in
Washington State and dedicated to restoring, maintaining and defending property
rights for urban and rural landowners.
Mr. Ewart is now engaged in a plan to expose the Internal Revenue Service
with his website (http://www.attackwatchspies.
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