Letters to the Editor
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Thanks, ondelette...
I would have bolded this part:
For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves.
There was a time when one could easily find some liberals in either party...
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bgno64: self interset
What the U.S. has done is what all nations have done - act in our own self-interest.
Except it's not in our own self-interest. "The U.S." is shooting ourselves in the feet. The malfeasance and rotten stewardship that is both Bush's mandate and modus operandi pose a long-term and grave national security threat. What the US is doing - in our name - is looking out for the self-interest of Bush's patrons, who will emerge cocooned,wealthier, and comfortable no matter what; and the rest of us can eat cake.
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Che Pasa
Thanks.
Thanks, thanks.
I go now, honest.
Thanks.
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Vote for Dennis Kucinich
The founding fathers fell into hemispheric resources, specualated about how in the world to divide up power. Along the way ever since, Americans have gravitated to the nobler aspects of national documents. Those resourses are gone. The soil turned to cotton and dust. No more forests. The steel mills are closed in Cleveland. Five more years of oil.
9/11 affected the world. Bush blew it in the long term. The world was behind the "only superpower". The world did not want to be led down this path. They are upset at who's guiding them. tricky linguistics,
I love Obama but there is only one man running on the democratic side who will affect change enough. And everybody should know it. Ready, willing and positioned.
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Not to oversimplify, BUTT
But..but..Everyone has a big butt. Tell me about your big butt, Simone. (Pee-wee's Big Adventure)
Let me tell you about my big butt.
It's one thing to have a friend you look up to who is well-intentioned and is basically a really good person, but who does screw up occasionally. It's another thing to have a friend you look up to who turns out to be, not only an asshole, but a selfish, sadistic, criminal asshole.
In the civilized world's view, we used to be the first kind of friend, BUT now it's obvious to almost everyone that we are really the second kind of friend, that is, no friend at all.
The most obvious observations, because they are so obvious, are almost always dissected to death by those persons whose acceptance of them would force a re-evaluation of their own beliefs. As coping mechanisms go, it could be worse I guess.
For example, all of the comments that question the validity and time frame of the Pew poll seem to think that this is the first time anybody has thought to bring this issue up in polite conversation. There are numerous other corroborating polls. Just google "us world opinion" and look at the first hundred or so links. You find out people like China better than they like the US. What the hell is that about?! Those readers of this blog who had no idea that Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo and Iraq would have such an effect on world opinion need to stop and think about how they think about things like torture, disappearance and murder, not when it comes to other people, but when it comes to their own people, their family, friends and neighbors.
The world used to think we were the good guys. Now the world thinks we are the bad guys.
As for those who are delusional enough to think it doesn't matter and we can do whatever the hell we want because we're the biggest, baddest kids on the block -- just remember what happened in the last century when one country or another copped that attitude. They wanted to be an empire and rule the earth and instead they got their asses kicked. They got put face down in the dirt. And it was the right thing to do. Now those same countries have turned out to be some of the greatest and best nations on earth. They turned from empire wannabes into enlightened, progressive societies.
The US has done a lot of terrible things over the past two-hundred years. But we've done a lot of wonderful things, too. We have the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and that makes us a democracy (sort of).
Why do I suddenly feel like Bill Murray in "Stripes"?
I'm tired of us being the bad guys. I want us to be the good guys again. I want everyone to look up to us again and to call us the greatest democracy in the world. Not for approval. But because I would rather the US helped lead the world in the direction of a thousand years of progress and enlightenment than into a great dark age filled with pain, suffering, ignorance, poverty and death.
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bernbart
I agree with your assessment of our decline, but I believe compassion toward the masses is called for here. The Bush regime has deliberately and successfully solidified an economic environment that keeps the middle and lower classes working more and longer just to sustain themselves. The complicit media (who have an economic stake in abetting Bush) keep us distracted, so that during the downtime in front of the TV, we are fed distortions or fluff. There is less informed consent of the governed than ever, by design.
We gotta push back.
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@Anonymous
Yes, what WFBjr had in mind was quite obvious, and by WFBjr's illogical formula (and yours, I presume) if I quote an Ezra Pound verse approvingly (which I've done), then I'm a fellow fascist, and if I quote WFBjr approvingly (which I've done) then I'm a fellow twittering venomous red-baiting scumbag.
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It's Bush
Well here's some feedback from old Europe. I can assure you that any surge in negative opinions about the U.S. has everything to do with George W. Bush. I and perhaps 75% percent of the people I know has taken a lot more negative view on the US actions since GWB became president. (Especially the War On the Environment, has really pissed us off. Those are our skies too!) Now what we are opposing is what is done (in the name of the American people) by the current administration, we're certainly not opposing the American people as a whole. That would be absurd. We just don't like George Bush or Dick Cheney or Karl Rove or the right wing looneys supporting them. So go U.S. (Just get rid of those asholes...)