I did not understand. I could not see.
I did not understand how we failed to convince them to hold accountable those responsible for policies leading to this unjust war-without-end and the resulting failed security, wounded economy, revoked civil liberties, and untold loss of life.
I could not see how we failed to show them the magnitude of the many errors made by war-profiteering decision makers so drunk on lethal power they promote - rather than deter terrorism, make Armageddon frighteningly more possible - not make anyone anywhere more secure.
Now I see. Now I know.
It is not that they were too bombarded by the media, too ignorant of the facts, or just too bullheaded to see. It is not that we failed in getting out the right information or failed in giving the most compelling argument. It is not that we were unable to educate them or that we were unable to make them see what is so glow in the dark to the rest of us.
They see. They get it. They know.
They are in the Bush camp because that is where they choose to be. They are supportive of the man, his policies, and his brain numbing rhetoric. They follow him because it is where they want to go.
Behind him they march on - on and on.
They march on Babylonia claiming victory over broken hearts and unwilling minds. Unable to distinguish fleeing insurgents from fleeing citizens they march shooting aged men back into Fallujah. They shoot them, bomb them, then wait for the silence - for their blood to drain beneath the rumble so they can safely separate dead armed insurgent from dead unarmed civilian. They march behind the man with the promise - the one willing to destroy to protect.
Compassion and Democracy be damned.
They can't be concerned for those beneath the bombs. They do not feel their pain, their suffering, do not mourn, or even count their dead. They know even the smartest bombs can't tell who not to kill. They know they totally annihilate man, woman and child. No distinction. No retribution. No concern for treaties. No prying eyes or pointing fingers - no humanitarian workers - no international law.
They see. They know. They march on - on and on.
They know wars are provoked, funded, and fueled, and by whom. They know of genocide. They see an over populated world with not enough resources and they accept this as a necessary culling of lesser people of a lesser god because they know Bush is protecting the futures of the most deserving. They know they are the most deserving.
They see. They get it. They know.
You cannot shame them - they don't feel shame. You cannot plead with them - they have no compassion. They trade hard-fought-for liberties for overstated promises of a worry-free tomorrow and watch without emotion as those with names they can't pronounce disappear to places they know will use interrogation methods that will stop just short of organ failure and death. They know of the unspeakable.
They feel no outrage. They don't hear their screams.
They do hear their leader calling them to have one voice, one mind. He whispers to them to rise up against the pure evil of allowing marriage options - to show on-fire concern for the unborn, but not for the living, and not for indiscriminant death and destruction. For him they spout righteous bigotry. They fabricate a national divide. They alter votes. They suppress truth. For him they call a hijacked election a mandate.
They cheer him on - on and on.
They do not care what we think. They ignore our efforts to reach their humanity. They do not ague, they merely slit the throat of any hope we think we have of reaching an understanding by refusing to engage intelligently in any discussion on any issue that questions the motives or morality of their leader. They silence us with the nonsense they hear sung by the media.
They sing one song - on and on.
They cannot be concerned with the problems created by a shift in government funding to military buildup and homeland surveillance. They do not object to the systematic dismantling and gutting of social programs for those less fortunate. They have no time for the weak - not even their own.
They see. they get it. They know.