What kind of country?
by TKinVT
Sat Apr 21, 2007 at 03:26:55 PM PDT
I don't post on blogs very much, but this last week really has me pissed off. So here goes...
- TKinVT's diary :: ::
Conservatives incessantly level the charge that their fellow countrymen on the left hate their country. Well, this liberal is here to say that, in some ways, they are right. Now, before I get started, for clarification in light of the PATRIOT act I'm not saying that I hate America. I don't hate the North American continent, its topography or the place it occupies in the northern hemisphere. As far as lands that could occupy the northern hemisphere, America is probably as good a place as we could ask for. Nor do I hate the idea of America as embodied in the founding documents. That's a pretty good idea, Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, rooted in Deism not Christianity. I love the fact that one of our Founding Fathers and presidents, Thomas Jefferson, had the audacity to edit the Bible. There are a lot of things I like and love about this country. But let's face it, there isn't anything that is good about America that can't today be overshadowed by what is truly crappy about America.
First of all, what kind of country elects a man like George W Bush?
Okay, he didn't win the popular vote. But it was close enough to steal. Obviously enough people thought he would do a better job than the guy who had already been there as vice president for eight years, or they just felt he would be more fun at a barbecue. We're not talking some elder statesman here. We're talking about a guy whose only qualification was that he was the son of a previous incompetent president. Of course it didn't help that a corporate media gave him a pass on everything. Take for example when, during a nationally televised debate, he mentioned how those criminals down in Texas were going to be put to death. He expressed the glee of an eight year old after finding out he could have the rest of the cheese pizza. Now, America, that should have been a big red flag. Whenever a presidential candidate expresses glee and/or humor at the idea of death, even if it's for criminals, then he/she probably should be ruled out as viable. (Hint: Bomb, bomb, Iran) But a good number of people watching that debate didn't think too much about it because he was "pro-life" after all and he'd probably be a lot of fun at a barbecue. And our corporate media, in their infinite seriousness, made sure that the public understood which candidate had the edge in overall barbecue likeability. Of course, his presidency hasn't turned to be all that much fun, but, gosh, who could've foreseen airplanes crashing into buildings, two failed wars, and a breach of the levees? What kind of country would elect a man like George W? Unfortunately America, that's what kind of country.
What kind of country has 19 school shootings in 10 years?
Well, could be more. 2007 isn't over yet. If you don't find that a truly disgusting and horrifying statistic, than there is something seriously wrong with you in the head, and you probably shouldn't own a gun. But then you probably do because apparently in America everyone can own a gun. It doesn't matter who the fuck you are. If your some deranged foreign national? No problem. This is America. And thank god we have guys like the NRA to make sure it stays that way. Then when the tragedy strikes and we're all sooooo shocked by the horror of it all, what sort of serious and sober national discussion does it engender in the news media (even here on Daily Kos?): how all the gun violence could be solved if more people had guns. That appears to be the official position of the conservative "pro-life" community. The answer to the problem of death occurring from death devices is more death devices. And yes, a gun is a death device. Don't give me that crap about guns don't kill people. What is the purpose of a gun if not to deliver death or some kind of severe bodily harm? So here's a question for all you guys who have brought up the "more guns" argument: What if I don't want to own a gun? What if I don't want to live in a society where the guy standing next to me is carrying a concealed Glock (or whatever you call your toys?) What if I don't want to live in a society where high school and college students have to pack Dirty Harry heat in order to be safe while trying to get an education? (Don't forget to wear your bullet proof vest, darling. Do you have your Glock?) Am I just out of luck? I ask you again, what kind of sick, twisted-beyond-all-imagination country? America, that's what kind of country.
What kind of country hates abortion so much that its willing to ban a non-existent form of it?
Well, don't you know, that's what it means to be pro-life in this country, inventing a non-existent abortion procedure so that it can be banned? That's what I call moral clarity. Doesn't matter that in the course of banning a non-existent form of abortion you make it illegal to perform an actually existent medical procedure that may be the only way to save a woman's life in the case of a pregnancy gone wrong. No, that doesn't matter because what matters after all is to be "pro-life." I mean you can't go to church and throw your arms up in the air, praising Jesus and speaking in tongues with phrases like Intact Dilation and Extraction in your mind. That wouldn't lend itself very well to self-induced states of pseudo-religious ecstasy. And never mind that America has one of the worst rates of infant mortality in the industrialized world. Because then we'd have to do something serious, like address the pathetic state of our health care system. Again, what kind of backwards, perverse, would-be-insulting-to-medieval-people-to-call-medieval country? America, that's what kind of country.
This is what America has become ladies and gentlemen. Conservatives say I hate my country. I don't hate the America that was born in 1776. I don't hate the America that overcame the scourge of slavery or won the war against fascism. I don't hate the America that produced FDR and JFK, the America that fought for civil rights or had the sense to rebuild Europe. The problem is, that America now only exists in books and PBS programs. I had no real politcal awareness prior to Ronald Reagan. I was born at the beginning of the conservative ascendency, came of age at its crest and now I have my remaining years to live in the aftermath. I don't hate America really, only what conservatives have done to it.
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