This is not the country that I once knew
And he's right. While America has never entirely lived up to its ideals, it has generally pursued a progressive path which has strengthened freedom and human rights, and so deserves to be celebrated as a "beacon of freedom". But when the leader of that "beacon of freedom" establishes gulags, his Vice President tries to overturn a ban on torture, and jokes about the old Soviet Union suddenly seem strangely appropriate, you have to worry. America is as far from its founding values as it has ever been - and moving in entirely the wrong direction.
Hopefully this will change when Bush leaves office. OTOH, the American people endorsed Bush's policies at the last election in full knowledge of what they meant. They voted for Guantanamo, they voted for rendition, and they voted for Abu Ghraib. The sickness is deep, and it will take many years to work itself out.
There is much evidence that the last two u.s. elections were fraudulent. The republican party did not win either the 2000 or the 2004 election. George bush is not our duly elected president. We have a huge problem here in the U.S. When the election process becomes corrupted, there is no longer a democracy. We the people must somehow take our country back from these crooks and liars. But it's not going to happen soon enough.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that the American people had 'full knowledge' of what Bush's policies meant, and voted accordingly. For one thing, most people do not vote logically (poor people would be voting Democrat rather than Republican if that was the case!); for another, it's almost impossible to get decent news coverage over there, and there are so many voices competing for your ear that's it's just too scary and confusing for most people to analyse; for a third, most of the country is so insular (look at the tiny percentage with passports!) that they don't have any idea what they're voting for when they tacitly endorse certain foreign policies.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, but let us not forget that Bush won 51% to 49%.He is loathed here like he is loathed elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the burden of guilt connected to the failures associated with the misconducts in Iraq, the lies leading in to the invasion etc, should be laid at the feet of Congress, which since 9/11 has failed its constitutional duty to be a watchdog and check upon Presidential power. No doubt much will be written on this in the years ahead, but the model of American govt is centred around restaining and diffusing power, not centralising it. Here we have so much of the problem.