Loosing the War of Subtlety

In Michael Moore's new movie Sicko he tries to take workers from the ground zero work site for treatment at Guantanamo Bay military base. The point Moore is trying to make is: If the government can give terror suspects health care, dental care, and access to nutritionists why can't they give the same consideration to workers who sacrificed their health to repair the wound to our nation after 9/11? The question is a valid one. Moore, or course, asks the question with his usual circus act flair using a boat and a megaphone floating of the coast of Cuba. Moore is a master at using his adversaries strengths against them. The Bush administration is pursuing criminal charges against Moore for infringement on the Cuban embargo that our government put in place so many years ago. This hard line stance is giving Moore's movie just the kind of attention that he was looking for. Moore is a propaganda warrior, the liberal Rush Limbaugh, but unlike Limbaugh, Michael Moore has been able to break beyond his core audience to influence the thoughts of the greater public at large. The person he needs to thank for this fact, more than anyone else, is George W. Bush.
Bush wants to frame himself in the image and the times of FDR. Roosevelt fought WWII through opposition at home, failed policies, military blunders and huge loss of life and equipment. WWII was won through the use of tanks in Africa, planes and personnel in Europe and Navy ships and nuclear bombs in Japan. FDR's courage in war time was like that of Lincoln's. They both prevailed in the conflicts of their times by believing that success could be achieved by using the full power of the country's military might and never compromising to the enemy. To believe that the war on terror can be won in a similar way is simplistic, wishful thinking that at this very moment is failing our country.
Everyone else in the world, including Bin Laden and his terrorist network, knows that this is a war about perception and expression of ideals. Far too often the Bush administration has let itself be baited into tossing aside the beliefs of diplomatic compromise and rule of law to try to achieve short sited goals of bullied victory. Scooter Libby is now paying the price for just such a miscalculation of the use of heavy tactics against someone critical to the administration. Someone in the administration outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent believing that in doing so would silence the voice of her husband Joe Wilson who disputed WMD claims by the Whitehouse. The Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez is all but incapable of performing his duties in the justice department thanks to the political maneuverings of himself and the political wing of the administration. They thought they could manipulate the system through by-passing of the rule of law. They threw away the ideals of justice for a hope of a short term victory against those that would disagree with their policies of aggressive attacks on the civil liberties of our own citizens. They polarized the Islamic community by creating an us verses them conflict that played right into the hands of the terrorist movement. The fear that they created in this country to keep themselves in office now serves only to embolden those that would unit against the United States as a counter to our superpower status. By making the President of Iran a villainous figure we have provided him with more stature than he deserves.
The Bush administration has proved itself a bull in a china shop. This world is full of delicate political structures that the administration seems to be oblivious to. Many people, Michael Moore included, are very skilled at the use of red flags to pull this bull in any direction they please. Russia, China, Iran, all seem to be getting what they want by baiting the President into acting the tough guy again and again. It is my belief that FDR would never have let himself or his government be so manipulated or controlled by his adversaries. The fact that the administration can let itself be so manipulated by an unhealthy, overweight film maker, lecturing the rest of us about health care, is the best example I have seen of the Presidents utter failure to understand the modern world. No wonder he wishes he was back in the less complicated days of FDR.

A Tale of Father and Son

Luke Skywalker was my favorite hero when I was a young boy. Like him, I was a farm boy that yearned for adventure. The Star Wars movies were the focal point of all my hopes and dreams. I was shocked to discover that the evil Darth Vader was his father. It wasn’t until years later that I understood the perspective of the father, Anakin. Life has a way of putting people in a corner that leaves us believing we have no choice in the direction of our lives. Whether we follow the example set by Luke or his father depends on how much we trust ourselves and the world around us. By following the journeys of Luke and Anakin Skywalker we discover what it takes to be a hero and how easily we can slip into villainy.
We are introduced to Luke on the desert planet of Tatooween. Anakin was also reared on this desolate world. Both dreamed in their youth of adventure in the greater galaxy. However, Anakin was much more focused on righting wrongs and dispensing justice than his son. Even at the precocious age of 8, Anakin dreamed of freeing slaves like himself while Luke wanted only to escape the confines of the boring life of a farmer. Ambition was a driving force in Anakin’s life. He yearned to achieve, telling Qui Gon Jin he wanted to be the first person to visit every star. Luke on the other hand even late in his adolecence was still wasting time with his friends. “It’s not that I like the empire, I hate it, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now,” Luke tells Obiwan while rationalizing his need to stay on his uncle’s farm. Anakin, on the other hand, believed in his abilities to such a degree that he never hesitated to think that he could solve the problems of a Jedi and a Queen in trouble. This attitude that he could fix anything would be strained later by the realities of life.
Anakin is introduced to us at Luke’s age of spiritual education for the first time in episode two. He has entered into the Jedi Order and is being trained in the orthodoxy of their religion. Ten years of lessons at the center of the social order made him well versed in the demands of the church. The Jedi enforced the will of the congressional governing chamber as well as maintaining a spiritual and moral standard for others to follow. This conflict between responsibilities of faith and politics would eventually lead to the downfall of their spiritual tradition and Anakin himself. Emperor Palpatine, the figure of evil in the story, was all too willing to exploit the Jedi’s allegiance to the republic. The Jedi were forced to take sides against a political movement for independence from the republic. This choice forced the Jedi to break their own moral codes and standards. Anakin was left to question the integrity of his faith. These doubts of moral code freed him to believe that the end could justify any means.
When Luke discovers the concepts of the Jedi religion the church and its traditions have been destroyed. There is no longer any Jedi code to follow. The only ones left to teach him are old and weak. They are running out of time to pass their faith on to someone who will use it. Luke is taught only the fundamentals of faith without the dogma that was ingrained into his father. The focus is on what he believes and the personal strength that it can give him. Luke learns to trust his heart instead of his head. If only his father could have been so fortunate.
When father and son meet for the first time they do so in battle, separated by the void of space. Anakin is now the defender of the status quo. His belief that the end justifies the means has turned his heart to the point that he no longer uses his given name. He has chosen the menacing moniker of Darth Vader. Anakin is there when Luke makes his first real leap of faith. Luke knows he can make the shot necessary to destroy the Death Star. He’s done such a maneuver countless times back home. The question now becomes; does he trust himself or the authorities around him? The experienced star pilots said it was impossible. The engineers told him to trust the computer guidance system. The voice of his mentor in his heart however, told him to trust his feelings. Deep inside himself Anakin must have felt a sense of pride in his son. Luke’s awakening into faith begins the process of waking the father from his slumber of self-hatred. When Luke makes this choice he finds his destiny and the force that powers the universe supports him. His friend shows up to give him help. The shot he makes into the evil Death Star is perfect. A new awareness of who he is builds on this one act of trust in himself.
Anakin’s journey was filled with much more politics than faith. The Jedi taught him to trust their code to interpret his faith. His friend, the chancellor of the senate, told him to trust government to temper the evil that exists in the world. Torn between these two flawed ideas, Anakin, like Luke, is forced to make a choice of faith. Does he choose to believe that power and self-will can save society and the people that he cares for? Does he choose to have faith that the destiny of the universe will unfold as it should, without his intervention? Once he chooses to fix the world into his image he is pushed deeper into darkness. As Anakin loses trust in his inner conscience his outside support begins to slip away. Anakin loses his faith, his friend and ultimately the love of his life, Padme. The more Anakin tries to control the situation the further he distances himself from any one who would help him. If the Jedi must be eliminated to accomplish his goal, so too must the Jedi pupils. Young children are slaughtered for the greater good at Anakin’s hand. He kills his own wife by breaking her heart. It would take the faith of his son to redeem him, forgive him, and set him free from the torment of his own conscience.
Luke discovers that the struggle of faith is no struggle at all. To become the Jedi that he wants to be he has only to acknowledge the truth of what he is. “I am a Jedi, like my father before me,” he tells the emperor after tossing his weapon to the ground. He doesn’t have to prove he has faith to anyone but himself. He knows he is a Jedi without affirmation. It is this sacrifice that wakes his father to the power of true faith. In that moment he is redeemed and the evil destroyed. A new faith is born. Father and son are united at last. Luke’s understanding of faith is based not in dogma, like the Jedi of old, or power to influence and control the world as the Sith believed. Luke’s faith found its center in the simple concepts of hope, trust and compassion.
The stories of Anakin and Luke have colored my view of the world I live throughout my life. Often have I felt the same temptations and arrogance of Anakin. It is the example set by his son that I aspire to and hope for. As entertaining as these stories may be, it is their deeper concepts that continue to resonate with my inner conscience. The contrasting journeys of Luke and Anakin Skywalker illustrate choices we all must make in our lives. These stories give us examples in which to measure our own decisions. Anakin was a victim of the belief that he could fix the world through his own will. Luke was a hero by recognizing that he could not. Together they paint a picture of spiritual development and political warning that we all would do well to notice.