Breaking Up is Hard to Do
I think my heart is broken.
On Wednesday, Bush spoke of a religious awakening in this country. And then he compared the war in Iraq to the Civil War, likening his supporters to the abolitionists.
Guess what that makes the rest of us. Simon LeGreen? We clearly hate freedom.
Now this is the kind of hyperbolic nonsense that for the most part we've all gotten used to. Just another day in the is-this-some-kind-of-well-financed-performance-art culture of political rhetoric. After you hear Ann Coulter say that her only complaint about Timothy McVeigh is that he blew up the wrong building and that the government needs to "physically intimidate liberals," well, you just start taking these things with a grain of salt.
I've gotten used to "clash of civilizations," the assertions that Democrats are traitors, the insidiously pervasive "Islamism." I've gotten used to being told that the only way to be a good American is to keep your mouth shut.
But for whatever reason, this quote from Bush broke my heart:
We are slipping so far away from the core values of democracy. Pluralism, civil rights, due process. None of these can endure "a confrontation between good and evil."
Illegal surveillance, religious bigotry, torture. All these can be legitimized by "a confrontation between good and evil."
No matter how much our instincts tell us that the good guys don't waterboard their enemies.
My heart broke when I heard this. I don't think I realized how much I identify as an American until I didn't recognize America anymore. I've always gotten a manly lump in my throat whenever I hear someone reading the Declaration of Independence, or the Gettysburg Address, or when I hear the speeches of FDR or MLK. But now I just feel sad all the time.
It's not that we haven't gone through this before. I mean the FBI was stalking Phil Ochs for chrissake and Spiro Agnew said that liberals suffer from "a masochistic compulsion to destroy their country's strength." But this seems different.
It seems different because there is no widespread organized opposition. It seems different because both parties are implicated in it. It seems different because laws have been changed to make us less free. I don't know how we're going to get out of this. And it breaks my heart.
Hey America, come on back to me. I loves you, baby.
On Wednesday, Bush spoke of a religious awakening in this country. And then he compared the war in Iraq to the Civil War, likening his supporters to the abolitionists.
Guess what that makes the rest of us. Simon LeGreen? We clearly hate freedom.
Now this is the kind of hyperbolic nonsense that for the most part we've all gotten used to. Just another day in the is-this-some-kind-of-well-financed-performance-art culture of political rhetoric. After you hear Ann Coulter say that her only complaint about Timothy McVeigh is that he blew up the wrong building and that the government needs to "physically intimidate liberals," well, you just start taking these things with a grain of salt.
I've gotten used to "clash of civilizations," the assertions that Democrats are traitors, the insidiously pervasive "Islamism." I've gotten used to being told that the only way to be a good American is to keep your mouth shut.
But for whatever reason, this quote from Bush broke my heart:
A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me.
We are slipping so far away from the core values of democracy. Pluralism, civil rights, due process. None of these can endure "a confrontation between good and evil."
Illegal surveillance, religious bigotry, torture. All these can be legitimized by "a confrontation between good and evil."
No matter how much our instincts tell us that the good guys don't waterboard their enemies.
My heart broke when I heard this. I don't think I realized how much I identify as an American until I didn't recognize America anymore. I've always gotten a manly lump in my throat whenever I hear someone reading the Declaration of Independence, or the Gettysburg Address, or when I hear the speeches of FDR or MLK. But now I just feel sad all the time.
It's not that we haven't gone through this before. I mean the FBI was stalking Phil Ochs for chrissake and Spiro Agnew said that liberals suffer from "a masochistic compulsion to destroy their country's strength." But this seems different.
It seems different because there is no widespread organized opposition. It seems different because both parties are implicated in it. It seems different because laws have been changed to make us less free. I don't know how we're going to get out of this. And it breaks my heart.
Hey America, come on back to me. I loves you, baby.
posted by Feemus at
8:57 AM
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