I was watching television the other day when the major networks broke into regularly scheduled programming to carry the President's second press conference in less than a month. Although he said many things while saying nothing, one grabbed me by the throat and posed a very heavy question.
To paraphrase, President Bush said we were in Iraq to help bring democracy to the Middle East (after Saddam Hussein wasn't originally found, along with the fabricated weapons of mass destruction story. Everyone knows this was the third strategy plan change). It wasn't that long ago that Condi Rice was slapped across the face by the Arab world when she discussed the “birth pangs of the Middle East” . It's not hard to figure out who the “daddy” was in this case. These two statements came together and hit me with a question I hadn't pondered before: is it possible for a hypocritical nation like the United States to export democracy?
How can the United States actually “export” something that is being stripped bare from the citizens of this country? The citizens of this nation are being treated like little kids who can't take care of themselves without Uncle Sammy's supervision, when in reality the elected officials are OUR employees. If you haven't noticed, our employees have been robbing the store blind through pork barrel projects and a big brother spy government.
When our kids tell a lie or misbehave in some fashion, our jobs as the adult is to illustrate through some form of punishment, there are consequences for bad behavior. When our government misbehaves, rarely do we step up as the guardians of freedom we are called to be, and deliver the necessary spanking. The politicians count on that, too. All too often they gleefully “take responsibility”, but what does that mean? Absolutely nothing will happen to them, thanks to a “good ole boy” crony system and the American public's unwillingness to stand up and demand legal accountability and the full restoration of their Constitutional rights. So there's little to fear if you're in power because “the little man” has little will to deal with the constant raw sewage smell from Washington.
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see how the American people have been brought to their knees via the Bush Administration; what is scary is most don't realize they are closer to the dirt. The spirit that originally founded this country wasn't that of helpless, lazy wimps – we got our start from brave men and women who took the risk in order to find expanded freedoms. They spent months traveling in small, crowded, foul smelling, disease-infested ships, only to be met with harsh weather conditions, starvation, and Indian attacks. My family line was almost destroyed in 1697 by one such attack , but they kept going and didn't give up. As it turned out, Caesar wasn't the only one to have a bad day on the “Ides of March”. They refused to cower to the realities of the situation and they persevered. Today, we don't even recognize the grim reaper is upon us, thrusting his sickle into what once made this country a great nation.
It's hard to understand how we can export democracy when the powers in charge are busy inventing ways to steal and deny Constitutional rights while we are thrust face first in the dirt in front of another “King George” . It's a harsh truth most of us don't want to admit to because it means we are willingly reverting back to a time when tyranny was the only form of rule.
Do you remember the old cartoons that used to come on Saturday morning? “
School House Rock ” used to teach us from the earliest days the Preamble to the Constitution; when we were in grade school, it was a necessity to memorize this before we could graduate to high school. We are giving up on the great experiment and surrendering the carefully worded Preamble to the trash bin of inconvenience because it doesn't fit someone's political agenda.
General Tommy Franks has been quoted saying, “It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world – it may be in the United States of America – that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important.” The military never misses a cue to take over the shooting match, and New Orleans remains a stellar example of the government using the National Guard inappropriately .
