A Real American Hero

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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act." ~ George Orwell

"Truth is treason in the empire of lies." ~ Ron Paul

A simple definition of a hero is a person that takes extraordinary action to benefit another person. The definition of a hero has been so distorted that virtually everyone in a category is labeled a hero, such as all members of the US armed forces, firefighters, or medical personnel. Surely a firefighter that rescues someone or a medical technician that stops fatal bleeding is a hero, even if they are simply doing their job. Our combat troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan for years have surely performed heroic acts every day just to help each other stay alive, as in many past wars.

To place a blanket label of hero on all members of the armed forces is nothing more than propaganda, for the days of our military actually defending American freedom have long passed. Our empire has troops on the ground in at least 130 countries and more than 700 active military bases. It takes a proficient liar or a deluded mind to proffer a cogent argument how this wide and deep disbursal of troops somehow preserves and protects our freedoms here in America.

In fact, the opposite is true. This thick blanket of military personnel, raging wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our intentionally amorphous "war on terror" expand terror everywhere and reduce freedom in America. Then again, perhaps these unintended consequences are not so unintended. Who benefits from this permanent state of war and imperial aggression – Cui Bono? Finding the answer to that question is as easy as reading a children's book.

To revisit the definition, a real hero endangers him/herself for no other purpose than to help others. Kevin Tillman is such a person because he refuses to remain silent. Kevin Tillman has lost his brother under horrific circumstances, has seen combat and now only seeks to tell us the truth. Perhaps America should listen this time.

As the now famous story goes, following 9/11, Pat Tillman completed the 2001 NFL season and he and Kevin enlisted in the U.S. Army in May 2002 and completed the Ranger Indoctrination Program in late 2002. Pat and Kevin were deployed to the Middle East as part of the 2003 Iraq invasion. Pat was killed on April 22, 2004 near Sperah, Afghanistan. It is now well known that the Army blatantly lied about the circumstances of Pat's death and tried to obscure them from the public and Pat's family. Kevin was later discharged from the Army in 2005.

Kevin's book, The Transparent Pillage has the look of a children's book, but the message is directed at adults, for only an adult can take the necessary actions to protect liberty. Kevin's message in this book is clear and simple. The illustrations in the book are appealing and clever. Kevin's book warns us of grave dangers that have already arrived in our former Constitutional Republic. Kevin synthesizes many warnings we now implicitly know but no longer heed:

  • "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." (Thomas Jefferson);
  • "The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people." (Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis);
  • “America goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” (John Quincy Adams);
  • "When American presidents prepare for foreign wars, they lie." (Robert Higgs);
  • "War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious." (General Smedley D. Butler);
  • "All wars are fought for money." (Socrates);
  • “It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.” (Frédéric Bastiat);
  • "[t]he people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. … All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." (Hermann Goering, founder of the Nazi Gestapo);
  • "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." (H. L. Mencken).

The "hobgoblin" in Kevin's book is a form of chimera that craves profit and power. The direct result of its intense craving is endless death and destruction, without justice, without accountability. The citizenry is likened to flowers that are ruled and controlled by nameless faceless bureaucrats with an appetite for money, power, hatred, death, and destruction.

Like the citizen flowers in Kevin's book, liberty in this country parallels the life of an oak tree. It began as a vulnerable green sprout. With much effort and care, it slowly grew stronger and more impervious to insects, disease, animals, fire and storms. It became strong and independent and could withstand its enemies. As it aged and matured, it naturally began to rot and weaken from constant attacks and it weakened, it became even more vulnerable. It's only a matter of time before our tree of liberty cracks and falls with a crash. Perhaps we have reached the point where our metaphorical tree of liberty cannot be resurrected, but rather it must fall and die and a new sprout (or sprouts) must take its place. It's up to us to ensure that these vulnerable sprouts survive.

We are all metaphorical trees (or flowers) of liberty and we all need to work to impale the chimera of greed, hatred, death, and destruction that endangers us. Take heed of the warnings Kevin Tillman's book offers as you read it to your children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. You may learn something yourself and after all, it was written by a true American hero who only seeks to tell us the truth.

December 15, 2008