Since when did the USA become a nation of cowards and wimps? Bush and most Republicans and right-wing talk show hosts insist we should be in a constant state of fear at all times. Thanks to people like them, a few spineless Democrats, and a Pravda-like mainstream news media, they managed to convince America that Saddam Hussein was someone to be feared. Not just disliked or hated, but feared. As a result, the USA was the only nation in the world that actually feard Saddam Hussein. Not countries that might have reason to fear him, such as Israel, Kuwait, or Iran. Just the USA. Are Americans stupider than other people around the world? I don't think so, just more frightened.
And I don't think that's right. When Francis Scott Key called the United States of America the "land of the free and the home of the brave" during the War of 1812, it meant something and that shouldn't change. So, Americans are no more or less intelligent than people anyhwere else in the world. But we do have a very powerful right-wing noise machine and a lack of opposition (though some Democrats do Get It and are fighting back). Also, we lack a skeptical press who will keep people informed, rather than in a state of fear. Remember those color-coded alerts? After a few months, it became transparently obvious that they had nothing to do with actual terror threats and everything to do with manipulating politics. And yet, whenever we had an Orange Alert or whatever, the press would dutifully report it without any questioning of the Administration's motivation. This creates a climate of fear.
Well, guess what? I won't live in fear. Not then, not now, not in the future. If Democrats want to win, they can't live in fear. The fear that Tweety might disapprove and compare you to bin Laden or call you a "whackjob" or something inane like that. We've got to stand up and fight back. We're the country that had the courage to stand up to fight to end slavery and secession. We had the courage to defeat fascism and Nazism and militarism in World War Two. We had people of courage like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who stood up to racism and eventually convinced a majority of Americans that we ALL deserve civil rights and liberties. We have had women of courage who demanded and won the right to vote and the right to choose against long odds and tough opposition.
Now the right-wingers go around calling people who oppose warrentless wiretapping "unpatriotic" and "unamerican." Take a look in the mirror; you right wingers are the unamerican ones. You like to think you're a bunch of tough guys, but you're really a bunch of cowards. We can't live in fear, because in such a state, the only people who profit are warmongers like Dick Cheney, who laugh all the way to the bank. So it's time we fought back and say that we won't live in fear anymore.