Cross-posted from The Fulcrum.I woke up a little groggy this morning and as I was walking to the shower trying to avoid walking into walls in the dark, a thought worked its way into my still sleeping brain. This thought had to do with my wonderment and anger at so many people in the US, conservative and liberals alike, who are so willing to "give up a little liberty in exchange for a little security." I agree with Franklin that such people deserve neither, but what would account for otherwise intelligent people willing to do such a thing?
Maybe it's the season, when the old saying I used to title this post is used so often. But my thought was that Americans who have rolled over to BushCo. in giving up such fundamental (in the truest sense) rights such as freedom of speech and
habeas corpus have lost sight of what it is that we are supposed to be protecting when we talk of saving America.
While in the very narrowest of meanings, "America" is a
place, I believe that America is best represented by what all elected government employees and soldiers refer to in their oaths of office:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of [President, Senator, etc.], and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
But where so many of us have gone wrong is to think of the United States more as a place than as an idea - or perhaps even an
ideal. Phrases such as "Homeland" betray this wayward thinking, betrays the oath above, betrays what it means to be an American. Such thinking makes it all the easier to pass laws that abridge the freedoms so many before us had fought and died to procure; to throw them away without much thought at all. Consider how little outrage there has been in regards to the unconstitutionality of so many provisions of the so-called Patriot Act.
We have fundamentally forgotten - perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of lack of education and knowledge (when was the last time you heard of a Civics course in our public schools?), perhaps out of sheer laziness - what it is that makes us, what makes America, different from any other country in the world, indeed any other country or kingdom in history.
It really is the thought that counts.
You should think about it.
Yes, I should. But I am in a non-working attitudinal plain of awareness, i.e., feeling lazy as hell. So I thought I would just drop in on the old LC site and see what my fingers are want to produce.
So far, nothing.
Wait...
There is some tingling at my finger tips.
Ah, yes, here it comes..........
A few days ago, over at
Ruminate This, I started to
watch a video on that so-called fateful day when EVERYTHING changed, when the planes flew into the towers. I thought I handled it well. It has been many years since I saw those images. I was even giving myself a nice pat on the back in congratulatory appreciation for having stayed emotionally calm and rational when suddenly, there on my computer screen, was George W. Bush.
BANG! Pure rage. It hit me like an explosion. My voice didn't simply exploded out of my throat, it ruptured out of my lungs. I scared myself with the amount of venom it contained. And it was all directed at Bush.
Yes, I have to admit it; I hate Bush. There is no two ways about the fact that I have a deep, unbridled, almost visceral, hatred of the man.
Why?
Because, on his watch, close to 3,000 people were killed due to his incompetence.
No. Scratch that last statement. Almost 3000 people were killed due to his negligence, his indifference, his lack of compassion. A spectacle we would be forced to witness during the hurricane season of 2005, when once again, through negligence, indifference, and a total lack of compassion, thousands-if not more-of American citizens were left to drown in New Orleans. We have yet to hear the total death toll of that catastrophe.
Chances are, we never will, because BushCo™ is all about secrecy. You know, those facts that must be kept in deep, deep lock-down for National Security reasons. With, of course, National Security hinging on one, and only one, important fact, that George W. Bush and the Neo-cons remain in power.
Unfortunately for Dubya and the Neo-cons, the American electorate has finally come to their senses. With an overwhelming loud vote, possibly the largest shift ever in congressional power occurred on November 7
th, 2006. So, now I have hope. The pendulum seems to have begun it's swing the other direction.
But until George W. Bush is removed from office, either by the ending of his term in 2009, or by impeachment within the next 6 to 8 months, I shall unapologetically hold a deep, passionate, unbridled hatred for the man.
Just like many conservatives still hold for William Jefferson Clinton.
In case any conservatives should happen to drop by and read this little screed: should you believe I need to drop my anger of Bush, then show me by example and drop your anger of Clinton.
Ya, that's what I thought.
