July 17, 2003
This is a surprise?
I've been seeing a lot of articles like "Daily Kos: Iraq war WAS about the oil" and seeing people (in this case Markos himself) say things like "File this under 'holy shit,'" or seeing articles like this one, "Good God," this time on Blah3, all about the doings of the Bush administration and I have to wonder how these people can be so shocked. My only surprise is when I read about the regime doing something good. I suppose that it may seem that I've become pretty jaded and cynical, but, really, I'm still pretty idealistic. It's just that my idealism has become tempered by a strong dose of realism. How can one be surprised when someone whose obvious goals are anathema to any caring, reasoning person actually takes action to further those goals?
It has long been clear to me that the Bush administration, meaning not just Bush himself, but Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Rice, Ashcroft and the rest, are in this for themselves, and only for themselves. How can I be surprised when they lie to us to push us to war, or when they pass legislation that helps only the wealthy (i.e. themselves) and does the rest of us only harm, or any of the rest of the outrages that they've perpetrated? The problem here is that I haven't been fooled. I knew from the beginning that Bush was Bad News for the United States, in a serious way. On 9/11, my first sick, impulsive thought was that the Bush bunch had done it themselves. I didn't really believe that but I am certainly not surprised that they may have allowed it to happen, whether through incompetence or malice. The event was certainly the best thing that ever happened to them; I knew that from the first instant.
About two weeks after the event itself, I mentioned to my therapist (whom I see to treat my biologically-based depression) that I was really scared of what "he" was going to do. David immediately assured me that Bin Laden was hiding in a very deep hole and I had to stop him and explain that it was not to Bin Laden that I was referring. I was afraid of what Bush was going to do, with respect to our civil rights. It was only weeks later that the so-called "USA PATRIOT" Act was pushed through a thoroughly frightened and intimidated Congress.
I'm not a genius, I don't think I can see anything that anyone else is unable to see. I think it's obvious, if only you allow yourself to see it and you not blind yourself with what you want to believe is true. I saw it from the beginning; the actions of the Administration spoke all too clearly.
Since I am not a genius, the thing that frustrates and enrages me is to see people turn a blind eye to the abuses. They don't want to see the bad things being done by the Administration, they don't believe these kinds of things can happen, so they don't allow themselves to see it. This is as true in Congress as it is next door.
So why exclaim "good god" or "holy shit" as if whatever outrage it is were so completely unexpected? From these people, expect the outrages. The one or two good decisions made by the Administration have been buried by truckloads of lies, deceit and treachery. These people lied when they swore to protect and defend the Constitution and the people of the United States. Since then, they have only continued their lies. Today, like yesterday, the day before and last week, American soldiers in Iraq died because of those lies. And these people still lie. Were we to expect better from them, we would be in fact the fools they believe us to be.
Posted by Frank at July 17, 2003 11:05 PMExcellent post! I agree wholeheartedly : I'm not surprised by politicians' lies ; hell, I expect them to lie, I think everyone does. My favorite is when posters talk about the 'tipping point'. There's only one tipping point, and that's next November. I enjoy reading your blog--really nifty layout and interesting perspectives. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: ej at July 18, 2003 8:01 AMYour comments really hit home. From the day of 9-11 I thought that this was just what the Bush people needed. His ratings were way down and they needed something to justify their war plans for Iraq (see "Defense Strategy for the 1990s': The Regional Defense Strategy" - found in many places on line). I had a really hard time believing that any one would take Americans lives to push an agenda and really didn't want to believe the administrations had anything to do with it. Since then, the administration has block any independent investigations of the intelligence details, they have managed to infringe on many personal freedoms under the guised of national security, and have created programs that give their friends millions of dollars. I have read (although I cannot find that document again) that there was a group who wanted to have a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Russia so we could become the sole super power. That report stated that a loss of 12 million Americans would be an acceptable loss. After reading that, I guess 5,000 would be a bargain price to obtain the oil we need to maintain a 'secure' future. I now believe that there are enough questionable facts to justify a really full and independent study into 9-11. Unfortunately, I doubt it will ever happen.
Posted by: Troubled at July 18, 2003 11:24 AMDeception, arrogance, murder for oil, and the raping of our Civil Rights doesn't surprise me...it simply offends me. What I continue to be absolutely amazed by is the apparent oblivion and/or buying of such crap by so many of the victims of said offenses. That scares me more than anything. Although I guess maybe the public is finally catching on...at least a bit...given the latest Zogby poll numbers. Then again, that scares me too. Will it take another 9/11 to win Bush the next election? That would not surprise me either. Eh, just call me paranoid - 'cause you'd be right!
Posted by: scorpiosunmoon at July 20, 2003 7:54 AMAn anonymous commenter has criticized my statement that "these people lied when they swore to protect and defend the Constitution and the people of the United States," claiming that the various oaths in reality say nothing about the defense of the people. I have removed the comment because it violates my strict rule as explicitly stated: "All purely anonymous comments will be removed."
Despite that, though, I figure that I should address the concern, at least to the degree warranted. Which isn't much. The observant reader may notice that there are no quotation marks around the phrase "to protect and defend the Constitution and the people of the United States." This is because, as said reader might conclude, I wasn't quoting anything. I was using my own words. I am certainly aware that the actual oaths only mention the Constitution, but I strongly believe that those oaths imply that the oath-taker will "protect and defend" the people, as well, if only through their protection and defense of the Constitution. Obviously I don't mean that they should "protect and defend" individuals, but that they should protect and defend "the people" as used in the following statement:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
It hardly seems that I should have to explain this. Isn't it obvious?