Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Wrong
"I'm so scared about the future
And I want to talk to you"
Coldplay -- "Talk"
When George W. Bush was elected in 2000, I thought things had gone badly wrong in America. But I thought -- oh, my innocence then -- that as terrible a leader as he might be, with all of his obvious intellectual shortcomings and his spoiled prince attitude, that he couldn't possibly be worse than his father, or even as bad as the terrible Reagan, who talked about America as the shining city while he contracted the CIA out to kill and pillage in Central America.
I was wrong.
The Onion, of course, famously had it right. My parents bought me a subscription to the paper edition, and the very first one I ever got had a top headline: "Bush: Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is over." But me, in the folly of innocence and wishful thinking, thought, nahhhh.
I was wrong.
And now, it's been nearly 6 years since Bush laid claim to the faultiest victory in American history. Six years that opened with his goons canvassing across Florida to ensure his victory. We should have known then. A lot of people joke about how tightly politicians like to hold onto power, but the current group makes Machiavelli look like an dupe.
Just look at where we are, with little outcry from the populace in general. Our government -- in our name -- has given the green light to torture. They've decided -- again, in our name -- to suspend habeus corpus when they feel like it. We've sullied our name by charging insanely into Iraq, now poised on the cusp of defeat because of inflexibility and utter incompetence. We didn't catch bin Laden. We didn't fix Afghanistan. Our economy's growth is outstripped by the growth of debt, both personal and national. And our President, the brat-in-chief, has quietly set himself up as the closest thing to a king that this country has seen since George Washington crossed the Delaware.
This, of course, doesn't bother the average person yet. Torturing terrorists, suspending rights of furriners and massive credit card bills simply roll off most people's backs. Signing statements don't sound all that suspicious to the layman. Indeed, Bush played himself off as an everyman -- a conservative guy with a big heart that would take to the middle on some issues -- and scored just enough votes to win election (once, really, 'cause the first one hardly counts). And once he was in power, he did nothing he promised ... and it was met with yawns.
I'd like to blame the media. They helped to make him the "compassionate conservate." They treat elections like a football season, by analyzing tactics instead of analyzing actual leadership. But it isn't the media.
I'd like to blame Bush, or more precisely, the brains behind him. But it isn't them. They simply fell into the right place at the right time. Karl Rove isn't evil. He's effective. He has no conscience, no care about what's actually good or bad for America. But that describes a lot of people, and not all of them are evil.
I'd like to blame Democrats. Where were they? For an opposition party, they did precious little opposing until 2004. They were so damn spooked of opposing Bush they ran a centrist in 2004 -- who helped shoot their efforts in the foot by not being able to really oppose the obvious Iraq blunder. (John Kerry isn't to blame for this, either. He ran as well as he possibly could have considering all that was allayed against him).
No, in the end, the blame lies squarely on us. Because I fear, where we stand, what our options appear to be and how the world is lined up, we can no longer be considered a functional democracy.
How many people do you know in your day-to-day life, do you wish did not have the ability to vote becuase they don't pay attention? Or because you don't think understand what's going on? Or terrify you with their desire for a one-party state?
We as a country simply can't fit the bill anymore. We're suckers because Republicans came up with their ultimate strategy: Repeat stuff ... a lot. That's it. Political scientists, very smart people, bloggers and the rest of the world scratch their heads and wonder what sort of magic Rove and Dick Cheney do on us, but the reality is that if Republicans repeat stuff enough, the media picks it up, and then BANG it's out there.
And like dogs, the American people start to salivate on cue. A smart friend of mine was going on and on about the "death tax" the other day. (It's actually called the estate tax.) The BBC refers to the Democrats strategy as "cut and run." (Guess who coined that sucker.) Compassionate conservative. Support the troops. Turning the corner.
As soon as 50.1% of voting Americans (more like 25% of Americans) decide Republicans are the light and the way, the GOP decides to rule like 100% of us voted for them. nd our response? To watch "Dancing With the Stars."
Reading this, you might be able to detect a touch of pessimism, even though all signs point to the fact that Republicans are going to take a beating in two weeks. That may be; Bush screwed up Katrina so badly that nothing could hide it, not even repeating stuff a lot. And Iraq remains as broken as the day Saddam's statue was photo op fodder. Repeating stuff a lot there has only made sure that more of our troops get killed and badly wounded so that we don't have to cut and run any time soon.
Nah, my chill runs a lot deeper. A complete Democratic shock win (which I'm sure won't happen) would help, very short-term. But we're too broken, too far over the abyss to really pull back now. I feel like I'm watching it in slow motion, but I think we've lost the last thing that made America the ultimate superpower: The world's belief that we could be a special force for good.
We traded 200 years of good PR for nothing. Nothing! Where we were once known for freedom and opportunity, we threw every last shred of our international dignity away for nothing. Now, what could we be possibly known for? Condoning torture? Providing a useful foil for al-Qaeda? Killing Iraqi civilians?
Don't get me wrong, I've never once bought into the American exceptionalism like most people do. We were hardly lilly-white in 2001. But we had a glorious chance to prove we were better, that we weren't going to bully anyone. And ... well! When the next generation of Iraqi kids who hate the Americans because their fathers aren't coming home grow up, truly, we will have proven just how exceptional our country is.
And all because someone who sits in a circular office repeats stuff. A lot.
