. . . Keeping the light off of the Bush-Cheney White House every day since January 2001.

World News, 06/18/2007: 7 Afghani children killed by U.S. bombs; U.S. blames al-Qaeda.

U.S. News, 06/18/2007 (CBS): U.S. soldiers rescue abused Iraqi children from a corrupt orphanage -- a moving story, but not tied in any way to the insurgency, or even tied to Iraq. It could have happened anywhere in the world. In any event, CBS spent at least 5 minutes on it, before also noting, very quickly in passing, the tragedy in Afghanistan.

Oh, well. "U.S. Navy Seals rock!" -- eh, Katie? [from Fahrenheit 9/11] Cue happy chat.

@DCLaw1

Your point about foreign perceptions is well taken; but the 2004 elections are what you should be pointing to. The idea that "we" would re-elect Bush-Cheney is just appalling, and must appear to the rest of the world as our ratification of their evil. Granted, other nations are probably familiar with the difficulty of unseating incumbents who have the power to lie to start wars and then run for re-election as wartime leaders (see: Banana Republics). Nevertheless, the world is right to be skeptical about all of us these days.

Beyond that, I simply could not disagree with you more. If we had a democracy in which all votes counted equally, and the person who received the most votes won, then I would agree that We are responsible for Bush-Cheney. But that is simply not the case. I don't hold the Russian people responsible for the former USSR; and after seeing how easy it is to cow a "free press" I wouldn't hold the German people responsible for Nazi Germany.

The US Constitution is flawed; and the only means of achieving democracy requires the approvals of the very same small rural states whose supersized powers are the problem. Nor is our Republic resilient. The last six years have proved that the public, led by the most ignorant in the small rural states (who insist that their guns are a necessary evil that will stop tyranny), will not only surrender but demand a final end to our freedom -- provided only our freedom is given up to a right-wing, rather than a left-wing, regime.

We might recover from Bush-Cheney, but the precedents they set will remain for use by future tyrants. I have a sinking feeling the history of the 21st century is shaping up to be the struggle of the free world against the tyranny and fascism of the Yoo-nited States.

You ask, "The better question is what more can be done to fix all that has gone so terribly wrong, in the name of our great country." I admire what I'm guessing is your youthful optimism. I, on the other hand, am old enough (barely) to remember Vietnam (Cambodia, Laos). I've seen this movie before, and I know how it ends. Good luck, though. Seriously.

P.S. Here's another fun fact about the electoral college. There are 16 red (or purple) states west of the Mississippi whose total combined population is less than California's. Yet those states elect 32 senators, compared with California's two; and in 2000 those states had 81 electoral votes, versus California's 54. Do you at least see the problem?

@DCLaw1:

1. I remember not overwhelming support for the invasion of Iraq, but rather a U.S. that was divided more or less 50-50 along the usual red-blue lines -- until there was no doubt that the war was a go, at which time most Americans grudgingly "supported the troops." The following poll from March 2003 bears me out. One question was phrased such that a large number did support removing Saddam, but that number was dependent on the lies about WMD and 9/11; and it drops fast when factors such as casualties, etc., are added. (50% of Americans in March 2003 foresaw the likelihood of a larger regional conflict.)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/03/06/opinion/polls/main543034.shtml

2. My experience has been that the foreigners Americans are likely to meet know more about the U.S. political system than do most Americans, including the fact that Al Gore won the popular vote, which was nullified by: a) 5 justices, and b) the electoral college. (They also know that Jeb Bush was the governor of the banana republic of Florida.) This is not "parsing" the results. These are facts. It is also a fact that small states, most of which are: a) rural, b) christian, and c) conservative, are grossly overrepresented in the Senate and the electoral college; and their cumulative weight negates our blue-state majority.

3. I'm not saying the system is "rigged" and therefore we should do nothing. I'm saying We the People did everything we lawfully could to: a) elect Gore not Bush, and b) stop his idiotic war in Iraq; and it didn't work. I'm saying the U.S. system is flawed; its flaws have been cynically taken advantage of by the Gop; and the system failed us (and the world) in 2000. Do you know something more "we" could have done to stop the invasion of Iraq? Unless you do, please do not try to pin this fiasco on anybody who did not vote for it.