What disturbs me besides the loss of liberty and human rights in the USA, with the horrific attitude of acquiescence by the American people, is the free talk among politicians of this country about “first strike” use of nuclear weapons. Why? What has happened to our policy of never using nuclear weapons first? What made us change our desire to never see nuclear weapons used against another nation or people? Was it the fall of the USSR? Was our publicized moral stance of first use of nuclear weapons just made out of the fear of the Soviet arsenal pointed at us? It seems that since we signed treaties with Russia on the ICBM’s, our policies towards nuclear weapon use changed dramatically.
How despicable does that make us? In my mind, it’s just about the largest travesty that we have ever perpetrated on the world. It makes the USA no different than any other nation that has used some kind of threat against other nations to make them do what we wish. The way these politicians throw the idea of using atomic weapons around makes me cringe with shame and fear. Mike Gravel was completely right when he told the other Democratic candidates in South Carolina “That you people scare me.” He was, along with Kucinich, the only other politician to stand up of to these purveyors of nuclear blackmail against the rest of the world.
We have no soul in terms of our government and the people that run it. The once shining light of democracy has been, for the time being, extinguished, and in it’s place is an idea that we can do or say anything to advance the “American Agenda”, if anyone truly understands what that is. The political landscape has changed so dramatically in this country that mention of a nuclear “first strike” is not even worth challenging. Senator Gravel is looked at as an “oddball” for not braying with the rest of the Democratic sheep. The Republicans have turned into the New American Nazi Party, and the Democrats seem to have morphed into a far right Republican Party. How in the world could anyone in his or her right mind call Hillary Clinton a “liberal”? She voted for a pre-emptive war, she supports a nuclear first strike scenario, she voted to gut the American Constitution on numerous occasions by voting for the “Patriot Act” and other laws that strip away our rights, and then she has the nerve to call herself a “progressive”?
I am a progressive liberal. That doesn’t mean I’m a milk-toast type of intellectual tree hugger that supports PETA and refuses to eat meat, not that is anything wrong with those beliefs. I’m just an average American that is totally disgusted with how far to the right this nation has drifted. It really doesn’t matter if the Democrats take every seat in Congress and win the Presidency. They won’t restore our human rights and change the militaristic bent our nation has succumbed to. This is obvious by the statements made in the Democratic National Debates. Again this nation is faced with the lessor of two evils, and with these choices comes the ability to destroy civilization and throw the world into constant conflict. Are these the choices that the American People are satisfied with?
Maybe this is what Americans want. Have we lost our democracy to those that desire security from fear that we are willing turn our Constitutional rights over to the state? It seems that many Americans don’t seem to care. We have created a society where people don’t talk to each other anymore. There is hardly a sense of community; it’s has been replaced by the media and our way of life that enables every American to insulate themselves from the world by distractions that keep them occupied. The once prosperous middle-class has been taxed to death so that it takes an average of four months of work to just to pay taxes.
So where do we go from here? Do we have enough progressive support to return the rights that have been stolen by the Bush Administration back to the people? Can we ever restore the writ of habeas corpus, or rescind the Military Commissions Act of 2006? Can we rescind the Insurrection Act that allows the Federal Government to control the National Guard of the individual States on the whim of the President, without the permission of the Governors of the States? There are so many other Presidential Directives and Executive orders to include PDD 51 that the Administration won’t even allow members of Congress to see! The Patriot Act that allows the government to search your home without a warrant and without your knowledge, these are now the way it is in America. It doesn’t sound different than any other Police State.
So in the words of Senator Mike Gravel, “Who are you going to nuke?” T his man is the only one that has called it the way it is. He might not be as “polished” as Mitt Romney or Joe Biden, or have the gift of persuasive speech like Barak Obama, or Hillary Clinton, but he has the truth on his side. This is all that matters, at least to me, but I’m only one person, and this is the way I see it.
