This essay is a response to the following question from a fellow noder. I couldn't stop writing, so here it is. It is an appeal that applies to any Bush supporter.
re: june 16, 2005 - Why do you hate America?
I can only hope you are being facetious. If that is not the case, and you are a supporter of that lout in the Oval Office, then I feel sorry for you, and hope you come to your senses.
Saying “my country, right or wrong” is like saying, “my mother, drunk or sober”. One can love this country and hate what the current pack of jackals in the White House are doing with and to her.
I served four years on active duty in the Army, have you? (This is not to say that you have to be a veteran to be a patriot.) As a veteran, I also hate the cavalier attitude Bush has towards the military. He has done nothing but cut benefits and place increasing demands on an Army stretched too thin through his ridiculous escapades. To point out wrongdoing is not an example of hatred, but of love. I love this country too much to sit silently while these people despoil her.
You practically can’t eat fish any more as it is, and Bush is going to continue to allow tons of mercury into our air. Who hates America in this scenario?
Bush and his cronies are treating this country like a hostile takeover, milking USA Inc. for all she’s worth before dumping her back on the market to fend for herself while they move on. He’s dropping our budget surplus on Iraq in a failed invasion based on evil sick pandering manipulating fearmongering LIES, simultaneously beggaring us while angering the rest of the world and creating more and deeper hatred in The Middle East than previously existed. Every atrocity that occurs under our flag is another terrorist born for revenge against us.
I supported the effort to get Bin Laden in Afghanistan, BTW. Although Bush f*cked that up, too. He took too long and let the terrorist get away. He isn't chasing Bin Laden very hard, either. Didn’t he say, “Wanted Dead or Alive”? We crucified his father for lying about raising taxes, and now we give the son a free pass to piss on a pledge he made solemnly before us all to catch the man who slaughtered thousands of our countrymen and women. Bush has since said that Bin Laden is “marginalized” and “no longer important”. He said that. On national TV.And we sit there and eat that shit up.
I F*CKING LIVE IN NYC, AND I WANT BIN LADEN AND EVERY OTHER M*OTHERF*CKER WHO WAS INVOLVED! Doesn't Bush get it? Don’t you? Why are you letting Bush piss our treasure and blood on a country and a regime who, although terrible in themselves, were not even involved in the World Trade Center Disaster?
Here at home, he’s just as bad. We are going to financial hell in a handcart, and Bush is pulling on the handle. His financial policy would even make Reagan (who I voted for while in the service via absentee ballot) shake his head in confusion. It will take us as many years to fix our economy once he has left office as it will our reputation. In some countries they use “American” as an insult. Who voted the leadership of our good allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan into power? You may forget that Bin Laden was once one of ours, as was Saddam and Noriega, but the man on the street in Britain, or Germany, or Spain, did not. They can even remember our original professed reasons for this war, even if the average American does not.
What about the Patriot Act? This guy is pushing to keep in place crap that should never have been passed into law in the first place. No-warrant searches are not supposed to happen in this country, and one should feel free in the sanctity of their thoughts. Nobody but you should know what books you read.
So if you are asking me “Why do you hate America?” you should look in the mirror and ask that of yourself.
Not to be one to say "I told you so", I wrote this earlier:
Frankly, if the American public is too stupid to reject Dumya, this country deserves whatever he does to them in the future. Your children will be paying for this for years, some in blood, all in cash. Sadly, the ones that were the most brainwashed are going to be the ones who pay the most.
I forsee a major financial crisis in the near future, which will allow the government to push through Social Security "reform" which will allow the rich to pull their funds out of the program, beggaring the next generation of retirees. I won't even begin to speculate on the imperial aspirations of a Dumya II administration. I pity the rest of the world now, especially developing countries with any resources his cronies can exploit.
I hate being right.