"Donald Rumsfeld represents a nation that is an economic juggernaut. We currently possess technology capable of delivering nuclear weapons to all points on the compass. We are still the only nation to have actually done so upon a civilian population. We have sold weapons to rogue nations such as Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. We have occupiedwith our military forces Grenada, Nicaragua, Panama, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Haiti, Somalia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Korea, and made a semi-coherent stab at Cuba not so very long ago.
In this manner we have spread our influence all across the planet. We are a Christian nation, missionaries at heart, and are not above bearing the cross into battle for the greater glory of God. These are, in the end, mere details. The ability of governmental officials to persist in their wretched work in the face of scathing hypocrisy and irony is just the pastel with which we color our political palette. Donald Rumsfeld and his ilk, morosely, offer no surprises with their actions. Despite the fact that we have more political prisoners in chains than China does due to our hapless War on Drugs, despite the fact that we are guilty of worse crimes than we could ever accuse them of, this will not distract the contra-constitutional government of George W. Bush from rushing pell-mell into a state of conflict with our newly chosen foe. America functions best when it has an enemy to fear and demonize. This is an old truth which has, sadly, not yet been discredited as it should be.
"For you see, according to men like Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush, it is that hatred which is the surest avenue to power. When the American people, in their blind and foolish trust, are directed to hate something or someone because they become convinced they are threatened, the power of the government becomes almost invincible. We will work ourselves up into a frenzy of nationalistic vigor, allow the hawks in the military to run amok, and loosen the purse strings that tie our tax dollars so those funds can be accessed by defense contractors with dreams of missile shields dancing in their heads, lest the money be wasted on social programs and environmental preservation. The Republicans did not lose the White House in 1992 because they were stupid. They lost the White House because the Soviet Union was no longer a credible threat, and the GOP no longer had the ability to make us hate.
Donald Rumsfeld has provided Bush and America a new enemy to fear and despise, but the consequences of this shift will be far more poisonous to the populace than perhaps they know.
The Russians were Over There during the Reagan years, but today the Chinese are right here. Americans react poorly when they are taught to hate and made to fear. The spike in anti-Muslim crime by good Americans during the Gulf War, and the knee-jerk belief that an Arab blew up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, tells you all you need to know about how we deal with perceived enemies who are in reality citizens of our country. We hemmed in Japanese citizens behind barbed wire during World War II. What will come of our new circumstance? Who will be the victims tomorrow, now that we have somebody new to hate? ...I must learn to hate my old friend Thomas Chang, who is a poet in his soul. I must learn to hate Dharma Lim, whose father was a Buddhist monk and who taught me kung fu in his spare time. I must learn to hate some of my own students because they are Chinese. I must learn to hate the Chinese man I passed on the street tonight who was burdened with groceries for his family. Who will you have to hate tomorrow?" --William Pitt, 3/28/01
posted on March 30, 2001 06:44:57 AM new
Perhaps I'll have to hate Iraqi's since every time a president is in the need for a distraction its always them who get blown up first...
posted on March 30, 2001 07:04:25 AM new
There were several other factors that lead up to George Bush, Sr.'s downfall in 1992, although the collapse of the Soviet union was among them.
Since then, they latched onto hating Clinton. That's why they can't let go of him, even after he is out of office. Without Clinton at this point, there would be no GOP.
So it only makes sense to pick a new enemy. Our allies and potential allies are all playing "Duck and Cover" as the Bush administration puts out its feelers to try to recognize new friends and foes of the United States. Bush swung a few blows at our old rival, the Russians, and they merely smiled and waved off the insults and injuries. The last thing that they want is another Cold War with the United States. China sent an envoy to see if Bush had designs in their direction, as historically, allies have turned into conquerers. Who knows how that meeting truely went?
It has always been hatred of someone or some nation that has always pulled the Republican party together. It is this negativity that is giving America such a bitter flavor these days. Instead of focusing on an agenda that helps the American Citizens, the Republicans seem split on wether to fully support anti-consumer legislation or to half-betrayals of their corporate masters. It's too sickening for most people to watch.
posted on March 30, 2001 07:07:21 AM new
1. How are drug prisoners = political?
2. There are plenty of people like me who are not responsible for the actions of the government. I have never voted for or endorsed a politician from the major partues.
People tell me it is the only viable vote but I have to sleep at night and I don't want my hands dirty.
Not to speak for the author of the piece, but a perception of the Drug War as a political boondoggle in which countless dollars are piped into the hands of favored sons and contractors, as well as continuing a program of surveillance and harrasment, in many cases of perfectly innocent misidentified citizens, could foster a view that victims of the crusade who are imprisoned rightly or not are political prisoners by being where they are because of political pogroms.
posted on March 30, 2001 12:11:51 PM new
Thanks - I can see it although it is a bit of a stretch.
I can see the medical pot controversy leading to political arrests where state and fereral laws are on opposition.
