Letters to the Editor
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Yup!
Well said Sidney, well said.
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straw man
OK Sidney, we knew all that. Tell us something we dont know. Why were we attacked? How about the previous boneheaded foreign policy actions of the US ad infinitum, ad nauseum since about 1953. The people who run it now have about the same ability as the people who built the Creation Museum do to teach paleontology at Yale. The sense of American entitlement to gobble up 25% of the world's resources no matter how it is done or what ill it causes others, the hubris of America in overthrowing legitmate governments, or invading other countries for whatever reason, are the root causes of why the US is now viewed as a threat by the world, not a savior. Ask most people in the world why the US invaded Iraq, and they will say "Oil", not WMD, not a ruthless dictator, not to promote democracy.
The average American doesnt know what the hell his country does offshore and only begins to care when the results start to affect him personally. A radical, long overdue change in American foreign policy is necessary. We dont need troops in 130 countries, not in Europe, not in the Middle East, not in Japan. We dont require a 400 billion dollar yearly military budget. Al-Quaeda is not to be feared, but to be understood. They dont "hate us for our freedoms." They hate us because we are in their country and because theyre religious lunatics and hating makes their miserable, pathetic, sandy lives have meaning. Were it not for the oil, theyd be living off camel meat and exporting dates instead of occupying all the news time in the US not otherwise occupied by Lohan and Hilton and fucking whales lost in central California. If we leave the Middle East, they will turn their lunacy inward where it rightfully belongs and we can all eat popcorn while we watch the latest slaughters for Allah via satellite. The oil isnt even that important, and if it is, lunatics will sell it whether they are Arab or Venezuelan. The only thing bigger than religious lunacy is money.
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America is Everybody
I'm not so sure the religious right is as damaging as Bush/Cheney/Rove; they don't necessarily equate in actuality.
All people of all nations are this nation. Is there a place that doesn't have a representative on U.S. turf? That cornball everybody equal thing, I guess...
Bush is, on the other hand, pretty parochial. Who knows where he comes from (perhaps the land where only AMERICANS are equal)? Was it Molly Ivins who wondered what it must be like to be the only sprig from a nor'eastern family with a southern accent?
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Bittersweet and Sentimental
Sidney, Maybe the Tuscan sun has gotten to your brains, but I I wish you would get on the offensive. The US has sunk far below any possible upholding of ideals, Founding Fathers´or otherwise. America is already divided, and Bush is not going to hand over power anytime soon-- not in 2008 or ever. If and when America regains respect abroad, it will come in the form of a pat on the back, like awkward condolences to the bereaved at a funeral. Because the damage will have been done, because it was AMERICANS who voted Bush into office twice. Some argue that Bush stole both elections, but voter turnout was only 60%, compared to 85% in the French elections, for example.
Democrats have, again, politely, gently capitulated like fainting lilyflowers in deference to the rude, bullying, crass hogs in the Whitehouse. So your essay, delivered in bucolic Tuscany, seems out of tune with the hard, undigestible reality back in your country. Please put on your shitkickers and start attacking, protesting, educating, and exposing this jackass in power, before he declares martial law and plunges the country into chaos. Or apply for residency, buy a sangiovese vineyard and start calling yourself Guido. (tempting, isn´t it?)
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Bush, a self-decieved liar
America is not Bush.
Bush is not America.
The emperor has never had clothes on since the very beginning.
A self-decieved liar who cannot face the truth.
A coward, just because he cannot admit his mistakes, so the whole country has to continue to live in the damages he has created.
Bush has never been a command in chief, but pretender in chief.
It has become all the more incomprehensible that how could someone so ordinary in intellect, so incompetent in leadership, so shortage of wisdom, merits, and real courage, could have led us for so long.
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Wrong (as usual) Sidney
The damage done to America abroad is done not only by Bush but by the manifest hubris and ignorance of ordinary Americans.
The Invasion of Iraq was NOT something foisted on an unwilling public by a manifest Liar. The invasion had the whole-hearted support of (at a minimum) 85% of the American public. In Europe, and other foreign spots where America's stock has traditionally been high, the numbers OPPOSED to the Invasion ran to 85% or higher.
THAT disconnect is HUGE … and reveals a gap that America will NEVER again bridge.
The truth of the matter is that the blinders are now off, and the Rest of the World can plainly seem Uncle Sam as he parades about in his loud, bullying, tawdry Imperial Robes. The end of the Cold War means America HAS no enemies capable of matching her toe-to-toe on a military basis. (Actually, 50% of current discretionary spending in the US budget now goes, directly or indirectly to the Pentagon while 17% of all American children subsist below the poverty line. And Uncle Sam currently outspends the Rest of the World combined in its military budget). So, with NO ENEMIES worthy of the name, WHY is Uncle Sam strutting about the globe seeking rogue regimes under every rock? Because the US "system" cannot exist without them.
The US Republic is dead. The fairy-tale of its "Founding Fathers" and their ideals doesn't cut it anymore. Hell, even American high-schoolers see through that "democratic" rot the minute you try to teach it to them. (I strongly recommend you try teaching civics to American teens, Mr B. Only then will you truly see the depth of cynicism and despair --they mistakenly call it "realism"-- in the rising generation).
I realize some Americans will resist that truth -- that the Great Republic is a thing of the past. But resisting it will not change it. The new American Empire, created behind the fascade of anti-communism during the Cold War, has reached its apex and is now on the downward slide. That decline may take a very long time, but all the evidence now suggests (and has done since the rise of the PNAC Brigade) that America intends to defend its Empire with every ounce of its remaining Military might … and by Military might alone.
Because it has NOTHING ELSE to offer.
It cannot lead any longer. It can only bully.
THAT'S why we'll see MORE American blood shed in the Twenty-First Century than was ever spent in the Twentieth. The current military are Imperial Grunts (as Kaplan calls them) not a Citizens' Army. Their blood is the price American Corporate "Democracy" is willing to pay to rule the world.
But, no matter how long the Empire lasts, Americans would do well to be honest about their situation, no matter what Mr Blumenthal or his ilk would ike us to believe. The US will NEVER again be looked on as anything but another Imperial Bully. Realize that. And, keep your children the hell away from the military.
"I have seen the future, baby. It is Murder."