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Dear Rest of the World...
I'm sorry.
The country where I was born, where I live, and where I will die, is presently being led far, far, far away from its ideals. The current administration of the United States of America has no respect for the rule of law, international or domestic, except when, where, and if it suits the neoconservative master plan. The current administration, and its lapdogs in the US Congress, have not only disregarded our Constitution, but they have symbolically ripped it up and pissed on it.
The average American no longer cares, because he or she either
a) has swallowed, hook, line and sinker, the spin and propaganda put out by the neoconservative corporate lackeys that own our media,
b) is so busy trying to survive in the Bush disaster of an economy that they can't think of anything else,
c) is so demoralized by the obvious defection of our own government from the principles that made this country what we love that to care hurts too much, or
d) feels and fears that nothing can be done to srop the neoconservative machine and the corporations that underwrite it.
Even those of us that do care find there is little we can do in the short term to stop the madness. Our only hope is to wake enough people up to throw the bastards out at the ballot box in November. But I doubt that will be enough. Closing that door will only prove to inspire the rats to crawl through the hundreds of windows they have "opened" and holes they have gnawed since the 80's in the fabric and principles of the United States.
All I can say is I'm sorry. The dream was a good one: to provide a system and a place where the rule of law and human rights ruled supreme over the rules and whims of a few men or some single religion (or branch thereof), to provide a system of governance that generally obeyed the rule of law and the will of the majority while protecting the rights and freedoms of the minority.
Now the executive branch has made it plain that it considers itself above all that. We now have a king, and his cabinet, with Congress as a rubber stamp and show opponent. And we have the most WMDs on the planet. Iraq and Abu Ghraib are only the begining, I fear.
By all the gods, I'm sorry.
Ravan Asteris, 6/17/2004
crossposting or republication ok, with attribution
The country where I was born, where I live, and where I will die, is presently being led far, far, far away from its ideals. The current administration of the United States of America has no respect for the rule of law, international or domestic, except when, where, and if it suits the neoconservative master plan. The current administration, and its lapdogs in the US Congress, have not only disregarded our Constitution, but they have symbolically ripped it up and pissed on it.
The average American no longer cares, because he or she either
a) has swallowed, hook, line and sinker, the spin and propaganda put out by the neoconservative corporate lackeys that own our media,
b) is so busy trying to survive in the Bush disaster of an economy that they can't think of anything else,
c) is so demoralized by the obvious defection of our own government from the principles that made this country what we love that to care hurts too much, or
d) feels and fears that nothing can be done to srop the neoconservative machine and the corporations that underwrite it.
Even those of us that do care find there is little we can do in the short term to stop the madness. Our only hope is to wake enough people up to throw the bastards out at the ballot box in November. But I doubt that will be enough. Closing that door will only prove to inspire the rats to crawl through the hundreds of windows they have "opened" and holes they have gnawed since the 80's in the fabric and principles of the United States.
All I can say is I'm sorry. The dream was a good one: to provide a system and a place where the rule of law and human rights ruled supreme over the rules and whims of a few men or some single religion (or branch thereof), to provide a system of governance that generally obeyed the rule of law and the will of the majority while protecting the rights and freedoms of the minority.
Now the executive branch has made it plain that it considers itself above all that. We now have a king, and his cabinet, with Congress as a rubber stamp and show opponent. And we have the most WMDs on the planet. Iraq and Abu Ghraib are only the begining, I fear.
By all the gods, I'm sorry.
Ravan Asteris, 6/17/2004
crossposting or republication ok, with attribution
Spreading the word in our little corner of the world
I have posted your letter with attribution on our local forum. You may get some from there finding you here and commenting. I think most will be more positive than you might imagine.
I am still of two minds on our current administration. I think that there is so much more I need to research before I make up my mind. I have never been particularly enamoured of the Bush group, because of the way they tend to over-react at the wrong time here at home. Their domestic policies are the pits.
I have seen some things on the net concerning the agenda of al queda and the extremist muslims, long term, that make me believe that the war in Iraq had to come about. It was not done the right way, but I think it needed to be done. I will have to go back to research the rest of those references before I can comment logically on that. I do think that the administration has lied to the American Public about the whole thing and sold us way short. If we were told the truth, we might be more scared, but I think we would be better able to make good decisions.
There are just some things that we are going to have to fight for. Among them is the right to be both Christian and Pagan and Jew in this country. The extremist muslims are determined to not let that happen.
The Patriot Act is an abomination. During declared wars, we have, historically, detained citizens suspected of terrorist type activity. Rights have been suspended at those times. Nevertheless, Bush and Company have not, to my mind, justified full wartime homeland security needs to me, or anyone else. They are operating on a pretext of striking fear into everyone of the unknown terrorist lurking next door. Some of their actions make McCarthy look like a boy scout and I am old enough to remember the McCarthy era and trials. We said never again, but now are doing worse.
Anyway, I admire your stand. I am not sure I totally agree. I don't completely disagree either. I appreciate your post particularly because it will keep me investigating and thinking about what you have said.