For over seven years now, ever since then Governor George W. Bush announced his candidacy for president, I have been speaking out about how bad I believed a Bush-led Neoconservative administration would be for America. Having been a Texas resident at the time I knew "W" was not up to the task of running the nation. I watched in amazement as this man and his cadre of corrupt businessmen and warmongers were "elected" not only once, but twice. It was unthinkable and I mourned.
It was difficult understanding how so many of my fellow freedom-loving and civil liberty-embracing Americans could be blinded to the devastation being caused in our name here and abroad. An imperialist invasion of a country based on incomplete and false assertions (no WMDs, no connections to Al Qaeda (or 9/11), no imminent threat, and the use of questionable intelligence to fabricate a case for invading Iraq) that was then managed (and continues to be) with the utmost incompetence and seeming disregard for both the lives of our brave soldiers (over 3300 dead) and those of Iraqi civilians (unknown tens of thousands). Our very Constitution, our civil liberties, the right to privacy, habeas corpus, and transparency of government have all been challenged and diminished. Our nation's moral standing and trust in the eyes of the world have been severely damaged. It will take a generation to rebuild and heal the tears in our national fabric.
But, I have hope. There’s a change in the wind. Some type of awakening is taking place in America. All recent national polls hover around 70% of Americans in agreement that this administration has been wrong on nearly every issue and most emphatically when it comes to the handling of the invasion of Iraq and now the Iraq Civil War. I am still sad that it took so many years for the majority of Americans to recognize the destruction occurring under the Bush "unitary executive". I am only happy that a change may have finally begun.
I realize a dominant reason much of this was able to go on for so long was due to the combination of a lack of investigation and objective information coming from our traditional media and a trusting public caught up in a wave of distorted nationalist propaganda in the wake of national tragedy. Add on top of that six years of a Congress that neglected all of its constitutional duties of oversight and politicized virtually every level of our government. Unless you were actively searching for the truth or were willing to even question the actions of the government (which it should not be surprising that many were not, due to the fact that there was a concerted effort by our government to even criminalize the act of dissent), I can see how people could have easily been led astray and not seen the Bush administration for what so many now do.
Over the last three months parts of our government have started to once again do their job. Questions about the actions of the executive branch that should have been asked long ago finally are being asked. The public that recently seemed unaware or uninterested are now being inundated on almost a daily basis with revelations about the dishonest, corrupt and politicized actions of this administration. As the layers of secrecy and obfuscation are peeled back to expose Bush, his appointees, and his most diehard supporters for what they are, the eyes of Americans are being opened. It will take the combined voice of these Americans working together to correct the present ills of our nation.
I have hope. There’s a change a comin’.
cross-posted from yesterday's Ariel