So much is implied in that image that is just not true. Remember when we put Japanese people in internment camps simply because they were Japanese? Remember when Nixon unnecessarily hired crooks to make sure he stays in office? Remember when Clinton ordered our troops to bomb the hell out of Kosovo, a war we were simply policing? Remember when we went into the Pacific, landed on island after island and said, "Mine"?
The United States, like every nation in the history of humanity, was never spotless. It should not be implied that the events of five years completely undid 230 years of foundation. Democracy should not be based on regret, it should be based on hope.
I totally agree that democracy should be based on hope (after all, it is an ideal to strive for), I just think that in many ways it's gotten to a point past hope, if that makes sense.
(And I like your two cents, by the way, thanks for chiming in to disagree.)
The nice thing about our system of government is that, no matter how much damage any one administration does, there are so many bureaucratic hurdles along the way that no single government can completely change the system. The fact is, while this administration has violated civil liberties with an impunity not seen since the era of McCarthyism, none of what Bush is doing is not all that new in principle. He's just more flagrant - and more aggressive - about it than most recent presidents. The spectre of terrorism has done nothing more than fill the vacuum left by the de facto disappearance of the spectre of communism. We've got two more years with this sack before (one hopes) someone less destructive comes into power and starts fixing the damage done over the previous 8 years. And then we will fall into complacency, and the whole cycle will start anew. We're no more beyond hope than we were with the Alien and Sedition Acts in the 18th century, everything leading up to and immediately following the Civil War, the censorship seen during WWI, the violations of civil rights seen in WWII, or the constant paranoia up until 1991 regarding the threat of a communist takeover of the world.
Of course, Bush still sucks, he's ruthlessly exploited the tragedy of 9/11 to impose his policies through what amounts to nothing more than The Politics of Fear, and the world will be better off when he's out of power. But has the world *really* changed since the WTC/Pentagon attacks?
thoughtful
Comments
The United States, like every nation in the history of humanity, was never spotless. It should not be implied that the events of five years completely undid 230 years of foundation. Democracy should not be based on regret, it should be based on hope.
/2 cents
(And I like your two cents, by the way, thanks for chiming in to disagree.)
The fact is, while this administration has violated civil liberties with an impunity not seen since the era of McCarthyism, none of what Bush is doing is not all that new in principle. He's just more flagrant - and more aggressive - about it than most recent presidents.
The spectre of terrorism has done nothing more than fill the vacuum left by the de facto disappearance of the spectre of communism.
We've got two more years with this sack before (one hopes) someone less destructive comes into power and starts fixing the damage done over the previous 8 years. And then we will fall into complacency, and the whole cycle will start anew.
We're no more beyond hope than we were with the Alien and Sedition Acts in the 18th century, everything leading up to and immediately following the Civil War, the censorship seen during WWI, the violations of civil rights seen in WWII, or the constant paranoia up until 1991 regarding the threat of a communist takeover of the world.
Of course, Bush still sucks, he's ruthlessly exploited the tragedy of 9/11 to impose his policies through what amounts to nothing more than The Politics of Fear, and the world will be better off when he's out of power. But has the world *really* changed since the WTC/Pentagon attacks?
The more things change, the more they stay the same, doncha know.