Bill's Brain - We Salute the Minuteman Project!

We Salute the Minuteman Project! - March 2005
Sometimes when the government won’t do their job and protect America, you have to take matters into your own hands. Note that we’re NOT advocating racism, violence, vigilantism, or disrespecting anyone’s rights, we’re supporting the right of American citizens to protect themselves by observing their surroundings and reporting lawbreakers to the appropriate authorities. I’d think Bush and his cronies would be all for this for a couple major reasons.

First, Bush is trying to cut federal spending for all kinds of social programs and services, and this should represent a welcome precedent for further cost-cutting. It shows that if the federal government cuts back far enough on important services, people will eventually get fed up and start doing the job themselves, at no cost to the government. I would expect Bush to jump on this idea in a big way, perhaps envisioning groups of unpaid law enforcement volunteers country-wide, or unpaid teacher volunteers in our schools. Just think of the cost savings! Bush would be able to cut the deficit in half without making painful cuts in his giveaways to big-money Republican supporters. It also ties in nicely with the right-wing distrust of the court system (they could cut "out-of-control courts" and "activist judges" completely out of the law enforcement process and administer "justice" on the spot), it's consistent with the Bush administration’s contempt for the rule of law, and the fact that Bush and the Republicans let the ban on assault weapons expire, thereby allowing law enforcement volunteers to pack overwhelming firepower. Come to think of it, it all seems to fit together a little too nicely. Could this be another one of Karl Rove’s brilliant (evil, but brilliant) strategies?

The second reason that I’d expect Bush to support the Minutemen is because he has been promoting the idea of an "ownership society," and the Minuteman Project exemplifies that concept. The Minutemen are taking ownership of the problem and doing something about it instead of just whining about the fact that the government isn't doing anything about it. And let’s face it, we've all been guilty of "whining but not doing" on occasion, haven’t we?

Best of all, the Minuteman Project seems to be working. According to the Minuteman Project website, border patrol agents are appreciative of what they are doing and are thankful for the help. Agents reportedly said that in the 23-mile area that Minuteman patrols are observing, border patrol apprehensions dropped from approximately 1,000 per day to less than 20 per day during the first week of April. It’s hard to argue with success like that.

Bill’s Brian wonders, could the Minuteman Project concept be applied to other areas, like protecting the environment? Time and time again Bush and the Republicans in Congress have failed to protect the health and lives of the American people when developing energy and environmental policies, choosing instead to pay back the energy companies that have contributed millions of dollars to their campaigns. The result is thousands more American deaths each year, increased suffering for hundreds of thousands from pollution-caused illnesses, and acceleration of a global warming trend that threatens the lives of all of our descendants, not to mention all of the other living things that share the planet with us. (Bill’s Brain also wonders how a president who claims to value a "culture of life" can rationalize environmental policies which threaten to exterminate all life, but that will have to be the subject of another column.)

If the Minutemen can find volunteers willing to take action to protect a 23-mile section of the border, surely there must be thousands (perhaps millions?) of volunteers willing to take action to protect the entire planet. Could environmental organizations use the Minuteman model to organize action against polluters and politicians who fail to protect them? With the fate of the entire planet hanging in the balance, it is an idea that certainly deserves exploration. And what about politicians whose economic and energy policies cause Americans to pay record prices at the gas pump while oil companies enjoy record profits? Or politicians whose healthcare policies deprive Americans of care and medication while rewarding drug companies with higher profits? Or those who propose to saddle the American people with trillions of dollars more debt while giving big investment firms more money via a seriously flawed Social Security privatization scheme?

Perhaps we could learn something from the Minutemen, and the world could be a better place for it. With all of the problems that the Bush administration has brought upon America, the opportunities appear almost endless. All that’s required are healthy doses of imagination and organization, along with that irrepressible "can-do" American spirit, and we could all be looking at a much brighter future than the one we face today.