To quote one of the most famous scenes in movie history:
I believe in America. America has made my fortune.
And while my monetary fortune doesn't amount to squat, my fortune in other areas is amazing. I have a passport that can get me into most of the countries I want to visit (Cuba, unfortunately is still a no-go). I have the opportunity to learn without fear of violence. I have the opportunity to live in an (at least theoretically) secular society where Atheists, like myself, while immensely distrusted by the population at large, are still free to live our lives the way we want without the threat of imprisonment suspended like a proverbial piano over our heads.
But this is not a "America, Fuck Yeah!" diary. I wish it could be, but such an event simply isn't in the cards. For America is our daughter, and George Bush and his friends, like the drunken frat boys in The Godfather have chosen to beat her, "like an animal".
This realization wasn't a recent one. Hell, anyone who believes in the Rule of Law (evidently the White House forgot to have this site bleached) has been cringing for the past 7 years at the mere mention of #43. I know I have, at first it was just his non-chalant attitude about the death penalty -- and well, to be frank, his complete indifference to the lives he was ultimately responsible for ending (somethine repeated in Iraq) -- and then there was his ANWAR stance. As a student in the seventh grade at the time of the 2000 election, I like to think that I was more politically literate then my peers.
Then, my views evolved. I'm not sure when the moment was. Unlike St. Augustine, I don't think I had that one defining moment in the Garden. If you asked me just a few short months ago, I would have declared that moment to be when I first read the USA PATRIOT Act. Now, I realize that by that point, I'd already been converted: I just didn't know it yet. I had no existential crisis.
I did however have one thing on my side. A belief in America, and George W. Bush fundamentally offended that notion on a level so basic that all the apologists in the world could not convince me he was right. I was raised to believe in America the Example. A frequently and I will admit, occasionally fairly, derided concept on both this website, and within the American left as "American Exemplarism". You want to know something though? I don't care, because whether we like it or not, we do set an example, and George Bush has, for the past 7 years, refused to set a positive one.
That was what offended me the most about Bush. He was intellectually incurious, the anti-thesis of my favorite childhood monkey -- although he bore no small amount of resemblence to said fictional character. This complete incuriosity was an embarrassment waiting to happen, and it did, he couldn't even bother to learn the names of our allies leaders. You know, the kind of thing that just might be important in things like diplomacy, or any type of International Relations for that matter.
These objections, mind you, were all before September 11th. Hell, they were all before that nasty spy plane incident that happened in April of 2001.
And what does this have to do with my belief in America? Everything. I have, at times, raised a few eyebrows -- and probably offended quite a number of you -- with my stance on the First Amendment (all speech save that which encourages violence, past, present, future, future perfect etc. is OK in my book). I see limits on the freedom of discourse as unnecessary, because society will usually act rationally on this subject. One only need look at the bipartisan condemnation of Fred Phelps to see that. While I disagree with the course of action taken, Fred marginalizes himself -- there is no needed to legislate in response to him and risk a law of unintended consequences. In fact, doing so grants him a victory because it acknowledges his existence. That, nevertheless, is slightly off of my topic.
Many Chinese would kill for something like the first amendment, and if we are not careful, we will end up in the same situation due to our current administration.
In between the "free speech zones" (an oxymoron if there ever was one) and the conflation of dissent and disloyalty, the current administration has shown naught but contempt for our constitution. The whiskey they fed to the American body was that of extreme "patriotism" and fighting for freedom. Fortunately for us all, America knew what she didn't want, and rose to defend herself. Many of us have been on that front line for as long as he has been in office.
Nevertheless, America was still beaten, like an animal. There were dark days for us all, and the administrations corruption of our constitution made that darkness visible, from the PATRIOT Act, to the NSA wiretaps, to the claim that perentary norms against torture in International Law were "quaint". But no matter how hard the Bush Administration tried, their darkness could envelope our last torch, and from that torches flame came the fierce fire of a renewed hope. America may have been beaten, but her mind, the American populace, was not broken. The constitution remains, and we are on our way towards restoring the rule of law.
And from this, we have emerged -- or, I should say, are still emerging. But my belief in America remains intact. Now is the time to set an example for the world. Now is the time that I call for something that mere months ago I would not have even entertained as a thought. Now is the time for impeachment. For there are laws to protect us; there is a legal system in place; we have a constitution and it was designed with situations like this in mind. When a President can no longer fulfill his or her duty as the head of our Executive Branch due to crimes against that document, it is time for that President to leave.
Mr. Bush can no longer fulfill his duties.
Mr. Bush can no longer keep his story straight -- if it ever was in the first place.
Mr. Bush has displayed nothing but contempt for our constitution.
Mr. Bush needs to go, and he can take Dick Cheney with him.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, we do set an example for the world. As several commenters have pointed out, Iran picked some specific conditions for those British sailors for a reason. By virtue of our power and economy, we set an example whether we want to or not. It is therefore imperative that we set a good one. We may not be any better than many countries, and in some aspects, we may in fact be worse. The fact remains, however, that leaders are always just as flawed as those who follow them, the difference is that when it comes down to it, the good ones make the right choices. Before we can condemn the despots abroad, before we can campaign for human rights abroad, and before we can make the world a free place, we must first take care of a rather substantial issue on the home front: he currently resides in that little white mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue.
I believe in America. I believe in the Rule of Law. I believe in our Constitution. Who is with me?