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The other day, I saw a makeshift banner in the back window of a car that expressed strong support for President Bush, and my thoughts were:
1. I'm proud to be an American, where "American" stands for freedom and justice for all.
2. I'm proud of our troops, who have done an excellent job at the task they were assigned.
3. I'm embarrassed as hell to be represented by a President who has demonstrated to the world that what he thinks "American" means is "might makes right", "vigilante justice" and the freedom only to be or do what the religious right theocracy approves of, and only then if someone doesn't whisper that you might be a terrorist.
4. I'm embarrassed that freedom and privacy have come to mean so little to fellow Americans, that it's being denigrated: I overheard some people talking about GM's "OnStar" system in the theater recently. What they said was that having something track them was a good thing and that people who worried about being tracked were paranoid. I guess Ben Franklin was paranoid too, when he said:
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
I forgot to mention that I agree with all your points too. I still don't understand why people are supporters of Bush (and this confusion is not because he's "republican" which I think he's not, but regardless of party that he could possibly be affiliated with) since not only is he quite effectively removing our rights, he's also contributing to the economy problems, and he is lacking any kind of ability for diplomacy, domestic policy or foreign policy (other than the renegade cowboy bit which does seem to get some results - good or bad). Unfortunately, it seems to me that the only way that we can possibly get decent politicians in office, is to change the election process and that ain't happening for a long time - the two major parties are too strong. Or maybe I'm too pessimistic.
Posted by: Anne Kelley at May 22, 2003 03:03 PMHey! A comment! ;-)
Yes, that's one of the best arguments people use while they watch their rights go slipping away quietly until they've got none left.
Posted by: Alan Batie at May 22, 2003 02:03 PMHow about those that say that the Patriot Act is good and only those that do something wrong need to be scared? That's another one that really gets to me.
Posted by: Anne Kelley at May 22, 2003 01:57 PM