The Real Enemy

This was the essay that did NOT get me into the University of Chicago. Maybe you'll like it more than they did!

The Real Enemy

D. C. Saylor

The Greeks and the Trojans, the Hatfields and the McCoys, Slytherin and Gryffindor, American frontiersman and the buffalo, the Cubs and the Sox"opposing forces that are either naturally or circumstantially antithetical to one another. As one prospers, the other suffers. 

The classic struggle between the mighty Trojans and the tenacious Greeks was not entirely black and white. There was a third force"the gods. They dished out divine intervention from the conflicts conception all the way to its concession. It is hard to tell who would have prevailed if Poseidon had not sent his serpents to strangle Lacoon, who warned the Trojans of “the greeks and their gifts”. Anybody who has studied greek mythology knows how involved the gods were in the Trojan war. However, anybody who has never picked up the Illiad probably has no idea.

Third parties can easily go unseen by the untrained eye. Often times a push and a pull is really a push and a pull and a tug. The question is, who’s tugging?

A monumental battle is taking place in America, and most of our country is trying the decide which side to fight for, placing their bets on two ideas that they view as antithetical, duking it out in a zero sum game. 

Liberty is without a doubt the core principle our country has always claimed to devote itself to. It has a seemingly unshakable foundation in the hearts of every American, never to be sacrificed or compromised. To sacrifice liberty is to sacrifice who we are, and even why we are. That is why we will never relinquish our freedom no matter what the cost…right?

But freedom has a powerful enemy in contemporary society. A rivalry exists, perhaps not as long as generations of Hatfields feuded with McCoys, Cubs fans jeered at their White Sox counterparts, or the buffalo struggled to outlive the cowboy invasion, but nevertheless it is a rivalry that lives and breathes on our ballots, in our newsrooms, and particularly in our minds.

Liberty and security used to coexist rather peacefully. Now they simply do not; Americans have seen terror that forces them to decide on a balance between the two that they deem preferable. What used to be a war time practice is now common policy. I do not criticize Lincoln for suspending Habeus Corpus. It was altogether justified. I sincerely doubt, however, that history will look so favorably upon the motives of those in power today that are pitting two highly cherished American values against each other like a pair of cage fighters. By taking advantage of tragic events and media over-consumption, they have fooled an entire nation into believing in an either-or fallacy that is devouring the integrity of this great country. While  feverishly debating on behalf of either freedom or safety, a third affiliate has slipped between the cracks.

Thousands of years of human history tell us that there will always be fools vying for power. We have seen kings that established themselves as gods. We have seen emperors claim rights to lands they have never even been to. We have seen democratically elected leaders transform dignified nations into states of intimidation and war. As long as there is power to be had, fools will be clawing for it. At the same time, there will always be intellectuals fighting against incessant and malevolent lust for power. It is a battle between those with the common sense to respect natural rights and those without it. It is the wise versus the foolhardy. It makes sense that the foolhardy have dominated history when you realize who ends up with more power to defeat their enemy"when you realize who ends up in office. 

How could we be so presumptuous to think America has risen above such indecency? Our rights as human beings"the rights that people have died for generation after generation"are supposed to be protected by an impenetrable force. That does not leave much to fight for. Conceptually, it does  leave much to fear. 

With almost every news story I hear, I can shrug it off, say, “maybe it’s not what it seems”, and move on with my life; but every story that describes a breach of that impenetrable force sends flares off in my head that shoot through my veins and out the pores of my skin. 

Don’t they see it?

How can they not see it?

I am not the one to judge another for their fear. I too am consumed by it. Mine is only different because it can be interpreted as a phobia"an irrational fear. A secret conspiracy to create an all-powerful and omni-present government may at first sound absolutely irrational, but when viewed with a historical perspective, it becomes all too real. Every government in history that has ever attempted to exert total control of its constituents made domestic and foreign surveillance an utmost priority. I admit, It is difficult to be actively concerned that this is taking place today when there are so many more clear, presentable, and immediate threats that we are repeatedly being informed of. I cannot judge them for making a deal with the devil in disguise. But disguises are temporary. I strongly believe they’ll see him for who he is someday"I just pray it’s not before we go to hell.

The problem with a government that is feared by its people is that eventually the people realize risking their lives and the small amount of freedom they have retained is better than existing in the shadows of tyranny. That is why police states and domestic brutality are the old methods. The new and improved method of manipulation was first mastered by 19th century Europe: Make them love there country and hate all the others. Once their love is deep enough, and there hatred strong enough, you can tell them anything is in the nation’s best interest"as long as you never remind them who “the nation” really is.

And they called it nationalism.

And soon after that came enlightenment. It directly opposed the systems of power that had been oppressing populations for millenia. The battle was epic. It was the enlightened versus the enthroned. For once, my team was victorious. We made the biggest advancements for human rights and social equality in history. Do you think the other team just called it quits, with all that power left with nobody to claim it? No. They just had to be smarter this time. More accurately, they had to be wickeder. Somebody, somewhere along the way, figured out it is easier to convince people that freedom is not safe anymore than it is to tell them they are not worthy of its glory.

A threat is easier to lie about. The consequences of weariness are higher.

So a new system was devised, two centuries ago, and now more people than ever are starting to feel its stranglehold.They are seeing that the fight is not over. They are seeing the effects consistently tolerating the intolerable. They are seeing that it is once again time to do something about it. 

Perhaps we’ll keep permitting sinister intrusions of our privacy and horrific crimes against humanity until its too late. Perhaps we’ll continue to judge policies based on the consequences of their immediate application instead of their potential. Or perhaps we’ll remember that weapons have to be manufactured before war can be waged.

The land of the free will never witness tyranny. Just like Germany would never rearm, Fidel Castro was not a communist, and Bill Clinton did not have sexual relations with that woman.

Call it ignorance. Call it a shortage of inquisition. Call it a lack of critical thinking, or of faith in our beliefs, or blissfully destructive selective blindness. No matter how you say it, we have forgotten to ask WHY. Our failure to ask ourselves why liberty and security have been locked in such a fierce battle" that is what’s tugging. If the American people begin to ask themselves why these two abstract ideas have been able to suck America into a dark spiral of principle deprecation, it is clear to me which will triumph over the other"it will be freedom, an idea that every human being is born with a will to pursue, an idea that has seen itself prevail time and time again throughout American and global history.

Perhaps it is us against them. But no such dichotomy exists between liberty and security. Only when complacency is added to the mix does the water start to boil over.

If we begin to acknowledge this trio exists, the submissiveness of the people will begin to dissipate, and liberty and security can once again be together in perfect monogamy. 

If you find yourself on the side of freedom, the next move is difficult and likely counterintuitive"tell your brothers and sisters to subdue their national pride, and to ask themselves what it means to be a terrorist and if building more walls around a society being crippled from the inside can possibly be the answer.