STATE OF THE VIGILANT UNION ADDRESS
composed by Cliff McKenzie, Editor, VigilanceVoice  www.VigilanceVoice.com
January 29, 2003

       Tonight, we are gathered as a Council of Parents, not just a nation, to answer the question:  "Does America have the unilateral right to fight a war on Terrorism without the support of the rest of the world?"
       The true answer to this question will not be given by the United Nations, or the Security Council, but by the Parents of Vigilance throughout the globe--the mothers, fathers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, brothers and sisters--who believe it is time to stand up to the Beast of Terror. Parents who believe Terrorism abuses the innocent with its Fangs of Fear, Claws of Complacency, and Insatiable desire to Intimidate not just the adults, but the Children and their Children’s Children’s Children.

       We are not America speaking to the world.  We are the world speaking as Americans.  America represents only six percent of the world's Parents of Vigilance, but its composition includes one-hundred percent of all cultures, all walks of life.  What we are the cornucopia of Parents of Vigilance from all nations.  Our citizens represent mothers, fathers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces and loved ones whose heritage stretches to all four corners of this great earth.  We are epitomy of parental duty and responsibility to not only our own Children, but all the world’s Children, for we are linked by blood and culture, by religion and politics to every strand of humanity from the richest to the poorest, from the most civilized to the most underdeveloped nation, community, neighborhood and village.
       No other single group of parents shoulder the moral and generational responsibility than the citizens of America to protect the Children’s Children’s Children from the Beast of Terror who stalks us even as we speak.
        The Beast of Terror is not just an "evil axis," a mere thing that can be erased.  It is an entity, as alive and real as Hitler was before he tried to rule Europe with Fear, Intimidation and Complacency. The Beast of Terror has stalked civilization for eternity, and will continue until he is challenged, as we here tonight challenge him.   He lives in the dark caves of the human soul, rising up when we turn our backs on his presence, or try to deny his existence.  He is Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.  He thrives today in Iraq, Iran and North Korea.  He stands behind the barrels of guns and a militia of militarism, and believes he is the hammer and everyone else the nail.  He will kill his own Children and everyone else's to protect his power.   He will eat opulent meals while his citizens boil grass for nourishment.  He will deny his Children the right to information and free choice and feed them Hate and Anger so they see the world as their enemy, as Beasts bent not on liberating them but on destroying them through conquest and enslavement.

        America has fought the Beast of Terror for over two and a quarter centuries.   The current crisis is not a new one.   It goes back two-hundred and twenty-seven years ago this July wen America was founded as an Anti-Terrorist state, and given the moral duty to protect the world from the Beasts of Terror such as Saddam Hussein who threaten not just the safety and security of American Children, but the safety and security of all the Children on earth.
       America's legacy as Terror Hunters goes back to 1776.  The Terrorized--tired of living under the despotic rule of kings, emperors, despots and tyrants--came to this country to live under the Shield of Vigilance, a shield that provided them and their Children's Children's Children the fundamental right to be free from the Beast of Terror's Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.
        Those Anti-Terrorism rights were guaranteed by the blood of American revolutionaries--mothers, fathers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins--who offered their lives to secure the freedom of their Children and to install certain Principles of Vigilance designed to protect those rights for generation after generation.
       Those original Principles of Vigilance--the right to express one's Courage to disagree, the right to hold Convictions in opposition to others, and the right to take Action to change the way things are so they will be better for all Children--were carved into the marrow of the document we call the Constitution of the United States.

         That document does not solely belong to America.  It is a global document.  It was   forged with the blood and sweat of citizens from all four corners of the world.  Men and women  who escaped from the Beast of Terror to a land where Vigilance  where Courage, Conviction and Right Actions would become the right of each and every citizen, and Fear, Intimidation and Complacency were choices rather than dictates.
        The price of Vigilance has been expensive.  
        To sustain it within the borders of America cost over 700,000 lives during the Civil War when brothers fought brothers, and uncles fought nephews to uphold  Liberty for all.
        The battle for equality against Terrorism in the United States has been riddled with confrontations not unlike the one we face in Iraq.   The death of Martin Luther King  was another symbol of America's ongoing battle to protect the rights of all its Children, and the elasticity of our duty as Sentinels of Vigilance to oversee the safety and security of the future generations.
      America's commitment to fight Terrorism outside our nation for no other prize than the Liberty and Freedom of others is unmatched in history.  When the Beast of Terror was allowed to run rampant in Europe as other nations turned their heads and allowed Hitler to build  his weapons of mass destruction, America stepped in to rid the Beast of Terror's grip on millions.

       Our Warriors of Eternal Vigilance in both World War I and World War II, died to preserve the rights of the Children, and the Children's Children's Children so they might  know freedom from tyranny and oppression as our Children have.
       In Korea and Vietnam, Americans fought to destroy the Fear, Intimidation and Complacency that Terrorism's venom spreads.  Those who question the power of American Vigilance over Foreign Terrorism need only compare the life of the Children in South Korea to those in North Korea, or to the Children of East Berlin when it was under communism versus the life of the Children of West Berlin before the walls of communism crumbled.
      Terror Hunting is not a new duty of America.    It has been the roots of our nation's founding.   The right to be a Terror Hunter has been imported to this country, not exported.  It has come to America in the form of mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, cousins, nephews, nieces, uncles and aunts from all walks of life who treasure freedom and liberty.  Only those who have lived under the shadow of despots truly understand the duty of Vigilance.  For that reason alone, America stands as the Global Parents of Vigilance, duty bound to extricate Terrorism beyond its borders.

     The other reason it is a unilateral Parent of Vigilance is that America is a composition of the world, not a world unto itself.  Its citizens comprise all walks of life, all races, creeds, colors, ethnicities.   America is not just the red, white and blue of our flag.  America is brown, black, yellow, white. It is Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, etc. as well as atheist, agnostic.  It is rich and poor, right and wrong, good and bad.  It is a boiling pot of all varieties of beliefs and non-beliefs, of all measures of hope and despair, of all degrees of opportunity and the critical right to fail and to right ones self and start over again.
      In the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, nearly one third of all those killed were citizens of lands outside the United States.   More importantly, the victims of that attack have heritages that spread to almost every nation on earth, and represent the combined ethnicities of the world.
      The attack on America was not an attack on the United States.  It was an attack on the world.  It was an attack on the mothers and fathers of Vigilance in every sector of the globe, a calling card by the Beast of Terror that no nation, regardless of its politics or principles, is immune from Terrorism's wrath upon their Children, or their Children's Children's Children..
       Some nations have demonized America as nation eager to wage war, an empirical bully who swaggers about at its will and whim, denying the opinions of the world to wait until there is imminent danger that Saddam Hussein is threatening the world before any action takes place.
        These critics of American Vigilance would have us wait until the Beast of Terror rises out of one of the many hidden caves he hides in and spews his venom before justifying any assault on his lair.
         Even within America, due to the right of dissent, there are many who oppose the actions of Vigilance and favor the policy of Complacency. 

        But time is running out.   Terrorism grows each second it is allowed the privilege of Complacency.   It thrives on Complacency which is the sum of Fear and Intimidation.  Terrorism strives to drive the wedge of Fear and Intimidation into its victims so it they sit by and wait until it grows cancerously.  And then, it is too late.   It attacks.
         And it attacks not just the Warriors of Vigilance, it attacks the Citizens of Vigilance.  It throws its SCUD missiles with indiscriminate care at whomever it wishes to.  It releases toxins on the innocent, the vulnerable.  It seeks to impose a blanket of Fear and Intimidation on all that it can attack at will, without concern for reprisal.  It acts as any bully who sees the Fear in the eyes of those he or she threatens, and takes command of his or her selfishness to avoid confrontation today in hopes tomorrow will not come.
        Winston Churchill recognized this hunger for nations to turn their heads to the threats that must be quashed before they became holocausts.   He said:  "Appeasement is feeding an alligator in hopes it will eat you last."
        America will not appease Terrorism.
        It will not feed it Complacency.
        It will not allow the Children, or the Children's Children's Children to be victims to unfair and unjust Fear, Intimidation and Complacency.  Now, or in the future.
        America shoulders the duty of the Parent of Vigilance.  Its citizens, despite their revulsion for war, and their historic sadness over the sacrifice of their sons and daughters who gave their lives in defense of freedom in far-distant lands, understand the role of a Parent of Vigilance.  Their privilege is to teach a child Courage in the face of Fear, Conviction when Intimidation shadows them, and Right Actions to the benefit of the future rather than Complacency.
        These ideals of parenting are the direct result of freedom and liberty.   They exist because America has a moral law against Fear.  As a nation, we have made the statement, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself."  We stick to it through our laws, and our belief that every child can become the dream he or she wishes to dream.  We shove open the doors of opportunity to each child, and while we don't shove anyone through them, we don't deny any of them access.

        One day an American Muslim can become President of the United States.   America has no limits on the potential it offers Children to become their full, rich, free selves.
        Offering that right to the Children of the world equal rights the Children in America have is the crux of our duty as Terror Hunters, as a Nation of Vigilance, of Parents of Vigilance.
         Those who view Saddam Hussein's right to oppress his people and threaten the lives of other nations' Children are not Nations of Vigilance, they are Nations of Complacency, suffering from the Fear and Intimidation the Beast of Terror injects into their veins.
         There are 100 million households in America.  The majority of them contain Children, or grandchildren, nieces, nephews and loved ones.    They represent the global right of all to enjoy what they enjoy--the highest standard of living and the greatest wealth of opportunity in history.
          America is being asked to stop its Acts of Vigilance in their behalf.
          America's intentions are being questioned.   Allies, for whom America sacrificed tens of thousands of lives, have turned their back on our eagerness to stop Saddam Hussein in his tracks, before he builds, as North Korea has, nuclear capacity to threaten the Middle East and expand his hold on Terror.
          We don't listen to our critics.
          If we did, we would succumb to the Complacency the Beast of Terror.  We would be equally infected with the virus of Terrorism as some of our allies have allowed themselves to be.
          We hold fast to our Duty of Vigilance.   We grip with tenacity the responsibility not only to our own Children, but to the Children of the world.    Attacking the Beast of Terror in Iraq is not an act of aggression as the pundits would have the world think, but the same retaliation any parent would provide if he or she passed an adult beating on a helpless child in the street.
         Tyranny cannot be ignored.

         If it is, it will worm its way into the cracks of all civilization.
         Those who refuse to look the Beast of Terror in the eyes today will find him hunched over their Children's beds in the future.
         It is time to act, not out of anger or empirical design, but out of Vigilance, to protect the Children and the Children's Children's Children.
         We, the Parents of Vigilance of the United States, call upon the Parents of Vigilance throughout the world to support our assault on the Beast of Terror in Iraq.
         We ask this to send a signal to the Beasts of Terror in Iran, and North Korea, and in all other parts of the world where the Beast believes the world will sit in solitude, fearful of challenging his power to inflict Fear, Intimidation and Complacency upon those he seeks to dominate.
         The current labels applied to Terrorism don't mean much in the bigger scope of Terror Hunting.   The Al Qaeda's today can become Sri Linka's Tigers tomorrow.  The Iraq's today can become the Pakistan's of the future.  The North Korea's of the present can become the Palestine's of the future.
          To put names and faces on Terrorism is a mistake. Terrorism can appear anywhere at anytime, and, unless it is caged, leashed, harnessed and managed, it will.
          The duty to be Vigilant and to rise above the Fear with Courage, to reach up above the Intimidation with Conviction, and to climb out of the pit of Complacency by using the Right Actions in behalf of the Children's Children's Children belongs to every citizen on earth. 

          America may be the point of the spear, but the power of its force is its shaft, and that belongs to the Global World of Vigilance, to the Parents of Global Vigilance, to the Grandparents of Global Vigilance, to the Loved Ones of Global Vigilance.
        We ask all the parents, grandparents and loved ones, who care about the future of the Children to live in peace and harmony, to raise their fingers in the form of a "V."
         The "V" represents Vigilance.
         It is a salute to the Children's Children's Children, not an endorsement of the United States or an abdication of any cultural differences that may exist between the East and West, the North and the South.
         The "V" is a symbol of parental duty that crosses all borders, that rises above all politics, that dissolves all differences in pursuit of what is right for the Children's Children's Children.
         Raise your fingers up.  Make the "V" for Vigilance.
         Tell the Beast of Terror you will not allow him free reign or a passport to your Children's future.

         And when and if America seeks to remove the Beast of Terror from Iraq, or any nation that threatens the future of its Children and others' Children, remember that we are acting as World Parents of Vigilance.  We are fighting for your Children's rights with our blood, as we have since the dawn of our nation.
         Stand up against the Beast of Terror.   Make the "V" of Vigilance for your Children, and all the Children's Children' Children.

Jan. 28--Kneeling Before The King Of Terror

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