People seem to have their knickers in a bunch because a preacher said "God Damn America" gasp. Can we stop our breathless dithering for a minute and ask what that phrase means?
"America" is neither good, nor bad. It isn't a thing a god can "bless" or "damn"
Repress your tribal pride in our Olympic team. Put aside your programmed images of mom, apple pie, the national anthem, the stars and stripes, and what our soldiers fight and sometimes die for.
The term "America" is a sloppy shorthand often used for the people of the USA.
Sometimes it is used for the government of the USA.
In theory (but not always in practice), the government of the USA enacts the "will of the people".
Most of the PEOPLE in the USA don't agree that we should be in Iraq. The government has a different idea.
Who exactly is accountable for the killing in our names? The soldiers? No. I'm a vet and I know that the soldiers kill who the government tells them to kill.
The people? If so, more through omission, than an act of commission. We haven't stopped the yahoos that started the war 5 years ago. Oops, our bad. We weren't paying attention and were distracted by 9/11 and a recession and the dog ate our civics homework and the republicans were scary and looked so grown up in their flag lapel pins and we wouldn't want to make a sound and look bad if we got attacked again...
The administration? I think the buck stops there.
Perhaps Reverend Wright is guilty of sloppy speech? Perhaps it would have been more accurate if he had said:
God damn an administration that lies us into war for its own motives and ignores the protests of a majority of its citizenry when they call for peace.
God damn an administration that places itself above the law by working to skew election results, abrogating lawful treaties, and spying on its own citizens.
God damn leaders who with hubris respond to legitimate questions regarding their actions being at odds with the majority of the people by saying, "So?"
I would certainly give anyone who said that a standing ovation.