More accurately, the powers that be have effing disgraced this country.
Clammyc Rocks!!!! And I totally agree with the message of your latest masterpiece, amigo -- "This country has become an effing disgrace", but there is one thing that I'd like to make a tad more clear -- that this country Rocks!!!!
That's right! America ROCKS!!!
And the disgrace through which we and the rest of the world are currently suffering are largely the result of a relatively miniscule power-band of effed-up neoconservatives who have wound their way to influence and power through decades of focused climbing -- politics, journalism, think tanks. The evidence is clear.
Sure you could cite the millions of jackasses that not only voted for the chimp in 2000 when it was clear that he was a pathetic shell of a human, and sure you could rip your hair out berating the ignoramuses who once again cast their votes for the shrub after four years of proving himself a catastrophic failure, but then you would truly be railing more against human nature than against America.
Those in power have crystallized their talents of propaganda and manipulation (Read Rove and Luntz, Heritage and AEI, Coors and Scaife, Murdoch and Walton). They've mastered the power of fear and loathing -- using that to frighten a populace into the role of a seemingly willing accomplice -- accepting bullshit lines on 'Republican national security' and other xenophobic frames. And they've set the standard for minimizing the media and political dissenters.
Not to say that the public is free from responsibility, but I think that overall, the American public's reaction is no different than any other population's reaction in similar circumstances. In my opinion, the difference here lies in the gross abuse of power and manipulation of information broadcast by our alleged leaders.
In fact, our behavior as a citizenry has been no different than other citizenries in similar (or worse) scenarios throughout history. Consider the fear mongering inspired mind-melt that led to the holocaust or Japanese Internment. Yeah, you can argue that those were far more intense situations, but the process by which each is attained is similar, differentiated only by degree.
To set the record straight, contrary to the claims of right-wing spinmeisters, America's Founding Fathers were a group of the staunchest progressives in our nation's history -- men of enlightenment, ardent supporters of church/state separation with a fervent passion for decentralization of power and freedom of expression. So too were the founding documents they authored and the principles by which they acted.
They include the likes of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Ethan Allen, and Thomas Paine.
These are the men, the documents and the principles that define our great nation as an unambiguously progressive nation. Despite that crystal clarity of vision and purpose, or perhaps because of it, conservatives have enacted an ongoing assault on these founding principles, not by refuting their validity, but rather by claiming they never existed in the first place -- essentially rewriting history as they've done so reliably in the past.
For them, historical revisionism is their only option since conservatives' ideal vision of America runs in direct conflict with that of the founding fathers.
Nevertheless, with a stranglehold on virtually every facet of American political, business, and media power, they've enacted a relentless campaign to undo virtually everything the founding fathers set in motion.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the power of the government is derived from the governed. The very move to a democracy as stated in the Declaration of Independence from the aristocratic rule of England was an outright rebuke of the concept of 'divine authority' -- much like that claimed by the current administration. In fact, Democracy itself is wholly derived from the progressive, 'Nurturant Parent' Morality -- forcing a 'decentralization of power', re-appropriating power from the elite few to the undistinguished masses and ensuring political equality to all members of that democracy. In it's purest form, Democracy empowers and protects the most vulnerable citizens while keeping the most powerful in check. The concept of "Democracy" is a microcosm for progressivism ('Nurturant Parent' Morality) distributing power away from the 'Strict Father' authoritarian power center and allocating it to those being governed.
Remember that neocons are opponents of Democracy, working relentlessly to eliminate our system of checks and balances (eliminating the filibuster and stacking the courts with ideologues) while reminding the world that the U.S. is "just a republic", not a democracy.
The current leadership supports democracy only as they do 'small government', 'family values', 'states rights', and 'life' (i.e. only when it suits their neoconservative agenda).
So Don't Blame America. We're busting our ass to get rid of these neo-fascist creeps!
(See also: "Don't Blame Jesus! He Never Said That.")