There's a famous maxim that says, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Though Wikipedia says otherwise, the statement is often attributed to Edmund Burke.
I doubt that Wikipedia will give me the credit for this 200 years from now, but I'd like to take a crack at a counterpoint to Burke's famous maxim anyway: Sometimes evil triumphs not when good people do nothing, but when good people fail to distinguish between hypothetical evil and real evil, and end up doing something about the former when they should be doing something about the latter.
Case in point: National Conservative Christian radio host Kerby Anderson's attempt to rally his followers to thwart the Senate from ratifying the Arms Trade Treaty.
As I write these words, it's easier to trade weapons around the world than it is to trade bananas and iPads. Whether we're talking about armed militias that terrorize civilian populations (Joseph Kony) or dictators that slaughter their people (Bashar Al-Assad) or insurgents killing American soldiers, the world has yet to come together to negotiate a treaty that would make it difficult for human rights abusers to purchase the weapons to commit their atrocities. The Arms Trade Treaty that's under discussion is about regulating the international transfer of weapons, not the domestic gun laws of individual nations.
According to Amnesty International, the U.S. State Department has explicitly said regarding the ATT, "There will be no restrictions on civilian possession of trade or fire arms otherwise permitted by law or protected by the U.S. Constitution."
One would think that an explicit, unambiguous statement like this from the State Department would settle the issue, but that hasn't stopped Kerby Anderson from sending out e-mails to God-only- knows-how- many followers to urge them to oppose the ATT based on the Obama-is-coming-for-your-guns boogeyman. In an e-mail sent out on July 12, Anderson writes to his followers:
"The Obama administration, working through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has been working to advance the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. While some of the rhetoric may sound good on the surface, there is serious concern that this is an attempt at an end run around a Republican controlled congress to enact limitations on our second amendment rights."
Based on what, Mr. Anderson?
The troubling part about the e-mail is that Anderson didn't deem it necessary to provide evidence to back up his claim, which tells me that he took it as a given that his followers would make an a priori assumption that the claim is true regardless of what the State Department has actually said.
Laying aside the question as to whether stricter gun laws here in the U.S. would actually constitute as an "evil," even if Mr. Anderson's position on domestic gun control were the correct one, that still doesn't absolve him from the responsibility to provide credible evidence that the ATT provides an actual threat to the Second Amendment. Assuming that something is true doesn't make it true.
After directing his followers to click on a link to sign a petition urging their Senators to "not vote for the ratification of this treaty," the e-mail goes on to say: "If the Senate, currently under control of the radical left-wing of the Democratic Party, ratifies this treaty it could be used to undermine our rights as American citizens."
Could be, Mr. Anderson?
You're opposing a not-yet-written treaty designed to make it more difficult for thugs, terrorists and crackpot dictators to slaughter innocent people -- something that's actually happening -- based on a could be?
Anderson closes out the e-mail with, "This is one of those times when all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Or maybe sometimes it's better for good people to make sure that the evil they seek to thwart is a real evil and not a hypothetical one. Millions of Christians in Africa are praying for the negotiation of a robust international Arms Trade Treaty. Unlike rich, white American radio hosts, they know what real evil looks like when unregulated weapons and ammo pour into their countries, ending up in the hands of militants that rape and slaughter their spouses and children.
Let's hope that the prayers of millions of African Christians don't go unanswered because of a few American Christians afraid that a Democratically elected president wants to steal their guns so that a future dictator might have the power to haul them off to concentration camps.
Follow Aaron Taylor on Twitter: www.twitter.com/aarondtaylor
Eric Sapp: The Most Important Treaty You've Never Heard of and How the NRA Wants It Dead
Kate Allen: We Need David Cameron to Secure a Robust Arms Treaty at the UN
Alistair Burt and Alan Duncan: Arms Trade Treaty: The Time for Negotiations Is Running Out
Western banks are the ones financing these dictators when the current leaders demand more money for their country's natural resources. The only thing this treaty will accomplish is raising the prices charged by arms smugglers.
I ask you to look at the disastrous policies of the US in Latin America...helping keep bloodthirsty tyrants in power seemed to be the order of the century...
Shall we ask politely, and if so does anyone think they will comply?
Ghandi said, to paraphrase-I like your Jesus Christ very much but I do not like most Christians, they are very much unlike Christ.
Who has the 'Only in America..' stamp?