Been There, Done That

Real Clear Politics had the following quote:

"I went through this hatred that so many of the American people are going through now, but fortunately I got over it. I had all this anger for this loss for our country, a serious eight-year loss, and now I just want to say you've got to laugh, a little bit, about this whole thing. It gets so painful that humour is the only antidote. If you didn't, you'd go bonkers. You'd become a raging lunatic on a blogosphere, writing anti-Bush screeds." - Oliver Stone, in an interview with The Guardian explaining why his new movie "W." isn't "angry."

I am not sure I can say that I have gone beyond my anger at GW. And that he cheated his way into office to do this. I personally think he will rank beside Hitler and Stalin in my list of world leaders that have done the most harm. And if you argue that he did not foster the mass murder of thousands to millions I give you the Iraq War: the illegal invasion and occupation of an independent nation. We list our dead on a daily basis but seem to ignore those we have killed. Or would that seem more like a score card?

Had anyone but a United States President invaded Iraq the United Nations would have been there with troops to expel them. And if you doubt that just look at how we reacted to Russia going into Georgia.

In the eight years GW has been in office he has totally turned off all our once allies in the world, invaded an independent nation, made us a nation that tortures, thrown out all our civil liberties and rights to privacy, and gotten us into the worst financial crisis since the great depression. Yes, I said it, the Great Depression. Notice how everyone is dancing around that with other phrases?

And every single act since the Supreme Court put him in office has been illegal in the World Court or illegal in regards to the United States Constitution. But to even act like we wanted to impeach him has invited the worlds unpatriotic or traitor and the not so subtle but unspoken threat of Gitmo detention. I was Googling some aspects of the constitution the other day (can I get a law degree through Google) and discovered that who should have decided the problem of the hanging chads in 2000 was the House of Representatives. But that legal body was controlled by the Democrats. The would have sided with Gore.

So not only am I still angry with Bush and all that have conspired with him to bring us to this place in history. I am a bit disappointed in my fellow citizens. Why didn't we riot in the streets? Call for a constitutional convention? Demand his impeachment? Only one reason - 9/11. Did he allow that to happen in order to forestall all he could see happening because of his illegal occupation of the White House?

The Politics of Hate and Fear

I made a comment on the previous blog that I wanted to see a return to those times when we were not persecuted for our political beliefs. When I made it I was thinking of the years of GW Bush being in office when if you were not for him you were clearly a terrorist sympathizer and some went to Gitmo for just that reason.

But when I stopped to think about it more fully I realized we are a nation founded on hate and fear. Our history is so full of it from the Pilgrims that came here to escape England - or so we are taught (and were seeking a new land); To the burning of witches in Salem (many just because they owned land);To the massacre of Indians (because we wanted their land); To the Irish who came here after they were thrown off their land back home; To the blacks because the got too uppity (and also owned land); To the Chinese that stayed after they built our railroads; To the Japanese we imprisoned because we thought they were the enemy on our land; To the hippies because they wanted peace in Vietnam (and oddly did not own land unless you count communes). And here and there for just the briefest of moments what we or our ancestors all came here to find - Peace and acceptance.

I was lucky enough to experience Camelot. In the brief days of John F. Kennedy, ultimately killed by a hater that feared him. I was in college and we could sit around and debate both sides of an issue all night long and still be friends even after heated words. We understood that the difference of opinion was what made horse racing possible. And the losing horse was not put to death.

But that was such a brief and shining time. Maybe the only time like it in our entire history of hate and fear except when the founding fathers gave birth to this nation conceived on liberty and freedom religion and belief. It has been a great experiment but I think it is doomed for failure because we now to again make wrong anyone that does not believe as we do. So sad. It must truly dismay our friends around the world. They have all looked upon the leadership of the United States for so long. And all I can say is don't follow us down this road. And we have been on this road of hate and fear for so long I seriously doubt we can turn from it.

The election is in under 60 days and what began as free and open debate on the issues has degenerated into fear and hate again. Hillary started it. She gave McCain the script. Palin's church believes that when we all self-destruct here in the lower 48 we will seek refuge in Alaska. There is that fear again. It is played to all the time. Raised to a fever pitch so you can win an election. Elect me or we are all going to hell. A vote for the other side means the end of days.

And so we walk into the voting booth to vote our fears and hates and not the issues. The real issues. Not those tired old red flags the politicians and fear mongers bring out all the time and wave around. For them 9/11 was a blessing because it is the fear that can always be brought back out and dusted off to make us all fall into line. No wonder there are those that believe Bush let it happen. It was so perfect for him so that he could get his agenda of hate and fear and export it around the world.

Enough. This is getting us nowhere. You cannot be a productive and expanding culture if you are constantly afraid or mired in hate. It is immobilizing. And what does a few burned witches achieve but a pile of ashes and relatives that won't forgive. Doesn't this sound like Muslim extremists? Only here it is faith based in a different faith of fear and hate. But it is still fear and hate. And not the way to run a country.