The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote, "All cruelty springs from weakness."
Our government was largely based on the Roman Republic. The Republic became the Roman Empire, a heavily armed corporate state that enslaved the known world to maintain an unsustainable lifestyle for a wealthy few.
Our Revolution and Constitution were the first fruits of the Age of Enlightenment. The lodestone of our moral compass was the belief in fundamental rights granted by God to all people, even non-citizens. These rights are spelled out in the Bill of Rights and chief among them is the right to due process and trial by jury. Gen. George Washington specifically refused to allow his army to engage in torture of captured troops.
For over three centuries the Roman Republic achieved a delicate balance between citizen rights, responsibilities and a good life. Social "demoralization" started from the top with wealthy families that first took control of the political system and then foreign policy at the expense of the Republic.
Within two generations after our Revolution, many of our founding ideals were abandoned. We became an empire after the Mexican American War and the Indian Wars.
If tyranny is "arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; oppressive or unjustly severe government" (Webster's), then occupying countries (Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan) without provocation and without a congressional vote to declare war is tyranny. Can anything be more cruel than killing innocent civilians in an unnecessary engagement? Only a tyrant resorts to torture to coerce or intimidate perceived enemies, foreign and domestic.
