coming of (political) age in the Presidency of George W. Bush

[More Than A Feeling]

One person's testimony

My political awareness simmered during the Clinton years, and I have but vague memories of political goings on then (mostly Lewinsky, sadly) The election of 2000 brought it to the surface, and since then I have plunged deeper and deeper into these murky waters. In the beginning, I was a moderate, more for lack of knowledge and inability to distinguish between competing party claims on issues where I had no prior opinions. There were a lot of those, because I had an open mind and little time and inclination to wade through to the truth. So, in some sense, my opinions depended on who I was with at the moment. I supported the Iraq war, largely because I believed that there was no other way to get the sanctions removed, and I knew they were strangling ordinary Iraqis, not Saddam (though we now know that he felt their effects too). As the body count from our invasion has piled up and our incompetence in the aftermath of the invasion became increasing clear, I dropped my support of the war, and turned to a partisan attitude of complete distrust of Bush (but not to the extreme of turning on my Republican friends). This happened for other reasons, too. The persecution of gays offends every sensibility in me, for one.

At this point, I am a strange blend of excited over recent Democratic signs of life, and very afraid of what the ultimate triumph of the mad dog fundamentalists and their corporate masters would mean (it hasn't come yet, in my opinion), and seeing increased signs that they aren’t waiting for their triumph. Not only the leaders of the movement, but also individuals who have grown bolder with the ludicrous idea that it is they, because they are Christian (in their minds, a minority, because other people who call themselves that really aren’t True Christians ™), they are being persecuted and must fight back. So self absorbed, so lacking in interest for looking at things from other perspectives, so lacking compassion, filled with “righteous” anger and hate.

I have no idea whether America can survive this poisonous, filthy reign, but I have no choice but to hope, sometimes in the face of everyday experiences that show me that those who deem themselves conservatives or Republicans in this day in age have no loyalty to America or the ideals she represents, at least not as I would understand it. Clearly, their idea of America consists of all the benefits, none of the responsibilities, and woe betide anyone who attempts to rouse them from their thick self indulgent, self righteous, selfishness.

My hope is that this experience is producing a new generation who does understand what America stands for, being in such close contact with people who would overthrow it all, and that liberty of America will emerge no worse for wear with strong new defenders.

But that is just me, and I could be wrong. What do you think?

[ananda]

1. consequences

It's not just you.. and you're not wrong.

America and the world are much worse off because of the greed and power madness among the corporations and the theocrats. It's a very strange marriage that's been made here, and all I see are dire consequences.

Economically, we seem to moving back towards feudalism. Culturally, I see a huge divide between the prudish, anti-sexual WASP's and the extreme, permissive messages pervading the society through the media and its celebrities. Ecologically, I see nothing but disaster: rampant pollution of air and waterways; rising global temperatures; and the squeezing out of many species of plants and animals. This is the consequence that bothers me the most because the result will be less land mass, and that so crowded and poisoned that life will be of very poor quality and ultimately unsustainable.

And all the personal and corporate plunder in the world won't stop this. It's as if we're returning to the days of robber barons and corporate piracy, but we have a complicit media to make it look like something else.

Sue

[kansasblue]

2. hope

We've taken so much for granted. The system has always seemed to work so that when I warn friends they tell me they're just too busy to check into the issues. "that you don't know what you got till it's gone
".

They have the investigative media stymied. While Fox preaches morality for the far right they pollute the airwaves with cheap sex and crap shows to keep their ratings up. The Republicans have 'religion' and 'patriotism' to use against us and they have got the election equipment hostage. Corporate America watches, placated by gifts of tax cuts and deregulation. There are only small signs that a new generation (or even the old) is beginning to understand.