It's no secret here that I have opposed the Bush neocon agenda and His Majesty the King Bush II from my very first comment and my very first diary in 2006. Nothing has changed. I never accept anything at face value and for better or worse, I question everything. That's what we inventors do. That's what we Democratic activists do. And that's what movers and shakers are supposed to do!
Tonight, I was accused of being a cynic. Life made me that way, and I wear my cynicism like a badge of honor!
This year our party has three qualified candidates running to clean-up the mess that Bush is leaving us all. The Iraq war, the perpetual war that McCain has said he's willing to stay a hundred years fighting.
If you want to know why I'm a cynic, follow me under the fold...
How am I so cynical? Let me count the ways:
I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED Bush's march to war against Iraq since the summer of 2002.
I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED the 2002 AUMF authorizing the use of force against Iraq, because I felt, as did Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, that the inspections "were working" and that Saddam was working towards FULL COMPLIANCE.
I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED the USAPatriot ActI of 2001 & II AS REVISED AND ENHANCED IN 2003, which nullifies your right to privacy and declares open war on the American people, treating us as though we were the ones who attacked America on 9/11.
I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED the Military Commissions Act, which nullifies the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus and every other amendment in the Bill of Rights, save the right to bear arms.
I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED all of the 6 Iraqi Supplementals for Bush's war of aggression and occupation of Iraq, because they made us all complicit in his war criminal war of naked agression and occupation, committing mass murder for their oil.
I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED the 2007 John Warner National Defense Authorization Act, because it gave Halliburton the go ahead to build internment or concentration camps within the contiguous borders of the United States. Gives Bush the power, to declare a Martial Law in any national emergency as defined solely by him, and the right to create a National Police force, nullifying the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act, and authorizing him to use deadly force against our citizens to enforce said martial law.
I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED the NPSD-51 Executive Order whereupon Bush gave himself the power to declare himself absolute dictator in any national emergency as defined solely by him.
I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007[HR 1955] because it is so boadly defined and written as to be construed to allow this government to declare anyone an enemy of the state or a "homegrown terrorist" for any dissent whatsoever.
I VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED the 2007 Protect America Act, because it ipso facto nullifies all of your citizenships, and scraps the centuries-old concept of the presumption of innocence. If we are not presumed innocent under the law, then we must all be presumed guilty under Bush's law. And if we are all already presumed guilty, then he has succeeded in revoking all of our citizenships!
So now you know, now you have a glimpse into my skepticle world as seen through a cynic's lens. I always say, "The proof is in the pudding". America has been marching headlong into police state since 2001. All of the signs have been there for all to see, and while we've been occupied with who the next American Idol is, or who Paris Hilton is bedding this week, or who Lindsey Lohan ran into with her car this week, we're ignoring the gutting of our civil liberties happening every day right under our bloodied noses. I'm not just going to lay down and die while they shackle us all with the chains of slavery and their unspeakable tyranny.
While we Democrats have been ripping each other to shreds, trying to decide who's going to succeed Mister Bush, we seem to be over-looking the obvious. We may not even have a Constitution left to defend--or restore by the time Bush gets through with it! We won't impeach because we don't have the votes, or we have more important things to do than to restore it and the rule of law, before he leaves office in 09.
Which brings me to my final point: Who among us has declared they will? Besides Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Wexler, who is left? John Edwards says he will do it, but he is all but written off by the MSM, the pundits, and many Dems, who are "looking forward" not behind. It reminds me of the soldier leading the charge, colors in one hand and a rifle in the other, reaching the top of the enemy hill, and discovering to his horror that all of his compatriots have either fled the battlefield, gotten killed, or simply surrendered and given-up. But don't look for me to ever surrender or give-up the fight for liberty!
Anytime the MSM endorses any one of our candidates, my cynical alarm goes off. When the establishment endorses an anti-establishment candidate, there's only one reason in my book, and it's not because they suddenly had a change of heart, or that they suddenly like the one who says they're going to change the status quo.
Like Edwards has said many times before, myself included, they didn't get their immense power by being nice, and they're not going to give it back to the people by negotiation. We're going to have to fight them every step of the way, maybe even one day, after having lived under a brutal dictatorship, having to snatch our liberties back from their cold, dead fingers, if necessary, and failing all other peaceful means in doing so, in the meantime!
While some have said they are going to negotiate with the powers that be, Edwards has responded with a "no holds barred unconditional surrender" approach, that scares the bejesus out of them all. They have ignored him, hoping that he will just vanish from the field of battle, like that army I spoke of earlier. But Edwards is: NOT. GOING. ANYWHERE!