And while many who wrote me about "America's Hitler" dwelt on America's misdeeds, It is my belief that given human nature and the evil we could have done as the worlds preeminent super power, we truly were a different kind of empire. Never as noble as we painted ourselves, of course - no nation who killed a million Cambodians and Laotians just because they were "in the way" in our war with Vietnam, to name only one of our misdeeds, can be regarded as totally altruistic, -- but still we wanted to be a force for good. Not only did we see ourselves that way, but so also did a good many of the people of the world.
In 2002 and early 2003 people around the world demonstrated against our going to war with Iraq because they thought it was wrong, but also because as E. L. Doctorow wrote so eloquently in "Our Unfeeling President" their
"cry of protest was the appalled understanding that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype of democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future"
Our governments only goal now, however, seems to be to do what will enhance corporate profit - no matter at what expense to the American taxpayer, the people of the world and their environments. We offer the people a stick and corporations a carrot. It is about time for Congress to turn those dynamics around.
Conclusion:
The biggest mistake people (including me) made in meekly allowing Bush to assume the presidency even though he lost the election in 2000, was our belief that he was such a inconsequential, even ridiculous, bumbling figure that his presidency could not have that much of a negative effect on the country or its people.
Hitler, too, in his early career, was thought to be an inconsequential, ridiculous flash in the pan.
Congress, we assured ourselves, would keep Bush from doing too much damage during his four years in office.
But then 9/11 happened, followed by the fortuitous and, perhaps, fraudulent election of 2002, and the opposition party lost power. It was off to the races for the neocons. Goodbye, government by three equal branches. Goodbye checks and balances.
Those of us who accepted Bush's presidency did not anticipate 9/11 and the kind of power Bush and his henchmen would be allowed to assume because of it. The neocons had said they needed a "Pearl Harbor" to achieve their ends, and 9/11 gave it to them.
Many psychologists have opined - without actually examining him -- that Bush is mentally ill. It is interesting to me that the only person whose death sentence he commuted as governor of Texas was that of a notorious serial killer. He cares so little about individual life he spent only fifteen to thirty minutes reviewing death sentences. Usually on the very day the defendants were scheduled to be executed.
He achieved his first term of office through unethical means, and the influence of powerful, moneyed forces behind him. Like Hitler, after an "attack," he used the twin emotional buttons of appeals to nationalistic patriotism and religion to consolidate his power. He won election to a second term (if he did) because his campaign focused on fear-mongering, and was based on lies and half-truths. He bragged about the programs he had funded, knowing even as he did so that he planned to cut them as soon as he was elected. He and his administration, aided by a complicit media, deliberately withheld information that would have made people less likely to vote for him.
To me, more than anything else, his constant and deliberate deceptions, his deliberate undermining of measures meant to procure "the common good" of the people, and his campaign which consisted almost entirely of bearing "false witness" against his opponents gives the lie to his so-called "Christianity." Can anyone imagine a budget Christ proposed including cuts in education, food aid and medical aid to the poor so that financial windfalls could be created for the rich?
The people of the United States are very lazy and very needy to let this man take over their individual consciences. But I do not believe that would happen if they knew the facts. Therefore, they have tried to keep us afraid and confused so that we will not seek those facts out, and will still believe the "facts" the White House feeds us through a timid and subservient press.
Bush and those who serve with him must be removed from power before he makes the American people more complicit in his evil than we already are. And though we, as well as most members of Congress do not want to admit it, because we (and they) stand by and meekly allow him to continue on his imperialistic path "we are complicit in their evil." As General Omar Bradley, another great WWII general said "War can be prevented just as surely as it can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent it must share the guilt for the dead."
But, again, the media enables Bush/Cheney and their hawk supporters by not making, or even allowing the American people to see what war is really like. CNN International shows some of the carnage because the international community insists on it, but the CNN feed shown in the United States does not. "The Baghdad Girl Blogger" has this to say about American television:
In 2002 and early 2003 people around the world demonstrated against our going to war with Iraq because they thought it was wrong, but also because as E. L. Doctorow wrote so eloquently in "Our Unfeeling President" their
"cry of protest was the appalled understanding that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype of democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future"
Our governments only goal now, however, seems to be to do what will enhance corporate profit - no matter at what expense to the American taxpayer, the people of the world and their environments. We offer the people a stick and corporations a carrot. It is about time for Congress to turn those dynamics around.
The biggest mistake people (including me) made in meekly allowing Bush to assume the presidency even though he lost the election in 2000, was our belief that he was such a inconsequential, even ridiculous, bumbling figure that his presidency could not have that much of a negative effect on the country or its people.
Hitler, too, in his early career, was thought to be an inconsequential, ridiculous flash in the pan.
Congress, we assured ourselves, would keep Bush from doing too much damage during his four years in office.
But then 9/11 happened, followed by the fortuitous and, perhaps, fraudulent election of 2002, and the opposition party lost power. It was off to the races for the neocons. Goodbye, government by three equal branches. Goodbye checks and balances.
Those of us who accepted Bush's presidency did not anticipate 9/11 and the kind of power Bush and his henchmen would be allowed to assume because of it. The neocons had said they needed a "Pearl Harbor" to achieve their ends, and 9/11 gave it to them.
Many psychologists have opined - without actually examining him -- that Bush is mentally ill. It is interesting to me that the only person whose death sentence he commuted as governor of Texas was that of a notorious serial killer. He cares so little about individual life he spent only fifteen to thirty minutes reviewing death sentences. Usually on the very day the defendants were scheduled to be executed.
He achieved his first term of office through unethical means, and the influence of powerful, moneyed forces behind him. Like Hitler, after an "attack," he used the twin emotional buttons of appeals to nationalistic patriotism and religion to consolidate his power. He won election to a second term (if he did) because his campaign focused on fear-mongering, and was based on lies and half-truths. He bragged about the programs he had funded, knowing even as he did so that he planned to cut them as soon as he was elected. He and his administration, aided by a complicit media, deliberately withheld information that would have made people less likely to vote for him.
To me, more than anything else, his constant and deliberate deceptions, his deliberate undermining of measures meant to procure "the common good" of the people, and his campaign which consisted almost entirely of bearing "false witness" against his opponents gives the lie to his so-called "Christianity." Can anyone imagine a budget Christ proposed including cuts in education, food aid and medical aid to the poor so that financial windfalls could be created for the rich?
The people of the United States are very lazy and very needy to let this man take over their individual consciences. But I do not believe that would happen if they knew the facts. Therefore, they have tried to keep us afraid and confused so that we will not seek those facts out, and will still believe the "facts" the White House feeds us through a timid and subservient press.
Bush and those who serve with him must be removed from power before he makes the American people more complicit in his evil than we already are. And though we, as well as most members of Congress do not want to admit it, because we (and they) stand by and meekly allow him to continue on his imperialistic path "we are complicit in their evil." As General Omar Bradley, another great WWII general said "War can be prevented just as surely as it can be provoked, and we who fail to prevent it must share the guilt for the dead."
But, again, the media enables Bush/Cheney and their hawk supporters by not making, or even allowing the American people to see what war is really like. CNN International shows some of the carnage because the international community insists on it, but the CNN feed shown in the United States does not. "The Baghdad Girl Blogger" has this to say about American television:
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