I may need some political Prozac.
Today, I am in mourning for my country. Democracy has died.
Our elected officials no longer represent us, and no longer have the country's best interest as their primary concern. After the campaign promises get them into office, they abandon the people and set out to advance their own agendas. The safekeeping of a nation becomes merely the cloak behind which they hide their trickery, backroom deals, and nepotism.
And also egregious is that what is in the overall best interest of the American people now takes a back seat to what is in the best interest of party politics. Although I didn't vote for Bush, his mandate is to represent me - the common everyday person who works a hard week, has kids to feed, who pays taxes that pays his salary, that has served her country, and who wants to go to bed at night feeling as if those she has chosen to lead has her back. But, Bush continues to neglect his responsibility to the people, and has sold his soul to those whose purses are larger than mine, and to a party far removed from the majority and mainstream. He continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with those whose reputations are tarnished, thus tarnishing the reputation of the country, and the American people.
I don't really care if Libby or Rove are proven guilty. What is important is that American confidence in its government is gone because of them and Bush's shielding of them. Their presence as part of the administration is now detrimental to our country's image and credibility with the rest of the world and therefore, is detrimental to me. If I don't have trust in these people, and the polls indicate that a majority of Americans feel like I do, then they should be "sacrificed" so that I can again have confidence in my own government. Bush deciding to retain Rove and to protect others in his administration has done nothing more than further divide our country, and soon, we will be so divided that we will no longer be able to stand. Why would he choose to retain those who have hurt the credibility of the greatest office in the land? Again, it does not matter if they are guilty - it matters only that the People have confidence in those we selected to lead, and we do not. The only explanation can be hubris. Pride does go before the fall, and fall, we surely have.
When those in government place their own personal agendas before that of the people, democracy dies. I have seen no action on the part of this administration that shows that they are acting in the best interest of the American people. I have seen no indication that Bush is willing to cut out the cancer that has taken over his administration, despite the fact that the cancer is eroding American confidence, and dividing us as a nation.
One of the signs of a good leader is the willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good of the people. Where is the sacrifice? When Bush took office, he did not take an oath to serve and protect his base, or his cronies. He took an oath to serve the people and the Constitution of the United States. That oath has been broken. He serves only himself and his own special interests. He protects only them.
And, his judicial nominations furthers my point in that he would rather pander to those with the pocketbooks than to those he represents - the American people - all of them. He is to represent those who voted for him, and those who did not. He is to represent blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, Jews, men, women, gays, Christians, atheists, agnostics, the rich, and the poor. Instead, he has chosen to only represent a small base of people called the conservative right. Only they are entitled to democracy. Only they are entitled to have confidence in their leadership. Only they are entitled to get their money's worth. As a result, the greatest form of government ever created by man, a government ruled for and by the people, has died. My heart is broken. The "Great Experiment' is no more. The light has gone from the "Shining City Upon the Hill," and we are left to stumble alone in the dark.
