Letters to the Editor
-
America is at a point where it must make a choice
And that choice is this: Patriotism or survival.
The patriotic choice is to go with empty rhetoric about how the country is perfect, and thus nothing real needs to be done to ensure its future.
This was the choice of Reagan, of both Bushes, and of every rightwing president. It is the lazy choice, the choice of cheerleaders as opposed to real leaders.
It is the choice of what a lot of Democrats wish they could be. It is the choice that characterises the Republican party. It is the choice that will destroy America in its entirety.
Or you can take the choice of survival. This does not mean voting for Obama, but does mean stilling your emotions and thinking about where you want the country to be.
It means having the balls to accept that America is NOT the greatest country on Earth. It requires accepting that there are real cancers in America's culture, that America has behaved badly, and that it continues to do so with only minimal objections being raised by its largely ignorant and apathetic people.
George W Bush torturing POWs does not come simply from the Republican party, it comes from everything America has been perverted into standing for. The Democrats refusing to enforce the law and call for impeachment measures being taken against George W Bush does not simply come from the Democratic party, it comes from a culture of spinelessness within America itself.
In a world where the vanity of the army is of more account than whether soldiers get shot, where war is fought not over some grievance, but for the sake of saving face, where good is a campaign speech and evil is an administration, America needs to quiet its patriotism and take stock of just what it means to be an American.
That a preacher damns America before a future presidential candidate is of no consequence. America is damned more by its actions, than by the words of Reverand Wright. That Obama has not thrown the Reverand under the bus is meaningless, because that he sees America's flaws actually counts in his favour - you want those flaws fixing do you not?
Being an American should never mean waving the flag and cheering. It should mean working to improve the state of America, it should mean striving your damndest to correct that which is wrong in America, and forever aiming to perfect the union.
That is what being a liberal means, while the conservatives cheer in their empty flag waving, liberals do the hard work of giving America something to cheer about.