Fear

In a new oppinion peice, Washington Post Oppinion Editor E. J. Dionne Jr. slams the Bush Administration for using fear politics in what he calls “a crowd that has clung to power by dividing us into bitter camps” and goes further, saying we will never move beyond angry partisanship, bitter politics and divisive rhetoric until this lot “gets the rebuke it deserves.” AMEN!

You see, the Republicans, now feeling the sting from Lieberman’s loss, plus a new poll from CNN, which is all over the political sphere, claims that 60% of the country is opposed to the Iraq War. A new ground swell of grass roots Progressive politics is emerging from small towns, urban communities and even suburban track villages. This movement has not nearly achieved its potential and it is growing. It’s an undeniable force now in the world of politics, and Lieberman’s loss is our battle cry, a sign of the amazing potential this movement has to destroy the powers that be, and usher in a new era of bipartisan true reform. The powers that be, are afraid, and will do anything to keep the status quo going just a little bit longer (so they can lie, cheat and steal more from our pockets).

The far right Authoritarian (almost theocratic fascist) Republicans claim that anyone that calls a spade a spade (meaning anyone that accuses the Republicans of not being defenders of democracy and the little guy [which is clearly a load of bull]) is a far Left conspirator of communist proportions. Images of Progressives living on communes reading those lackluster sayings from Mao’s little red book, while we practice secular heathenism and spread our weapons to terrorists are conjured up by what the White House is saying now. To think that when 60% of the country opposes the war they claim that opposing the war is “Far Left”, I think not. Once again, Bush and his cronies have called the American people a bunch of morons, and the American people are allowing him to do it.

The truth is that a party of elitist aristocratic wolves in sheep’s clothing has dragged the country FAR to the right, far from the actual political median, mean and even mode of the American People. They claim Progressives are far Left conspirators. This could not be more false. Teddy Roosevelt (a Republican) was a Progressive, and even founded the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party. The Progressive movement in the early 20th Century was far from leaning to one side or the other. Quite the Contrary, it was purely centrist, otherwise, it would never have achieved anything. Some ideas leaned to the left, some ideas leaned to the right. Together, they brought public schools, sanitation laws, the 8-hour workday, fire departments, the primary election and a woman’s right to vote.

Progressives are true moderates. Not these phonies that call themselves moderates today. They are more like traditional conservatives, who stood for as little change as possible. Modern conservatives are anything but conservative. They wish to makeover everything in their sick and twisted image. They claim it’s a return to the good old days, but this is false. They conjure up a world that never existed, of happy Betty Crocker mom staying at home and shutting the hell up, taking her good God-fearing children to that wonderful public school that taught them to pray and respect God while her good husband came home at the end of the day with a paycheck and an arm full of roses. Where the baseball teams all came in first place, and the country always won its wars. Where the weather was fair and everyone conformed to one ideal of what a proper American should be. Buzz cuts, shirt, tie, hat and coat. Can you hear the sappy Leave it to Beaver music? This is what they are actually conjuring up, a TV show, an extraction of what life was, an idealized memory, which sounds good on paper but actually never did, and never will, exist.

I call this the “I Walked 10 Miles to School Through a Blizzard” Syndrome. The belief that life was harder and simpler at the same time. It makes no sense. The truth is that the world has always been a cold and dark place, we make our own happiness with what we got. Reshaping the world to form some sort of TV show ideology is not only absurd it’s moronic. Yet this is exactly what Republicans seek to do on their ideological front. Their own self-destructive nature tears this down with the corruption they receive from power. Their lust for oil and wealth, their allowance of corrupt corporations like Wal-Mart to destroy small business, drain small communities of their money and send jobs to China. In the end, Wal-Mart has actually strengthened China! Yes, the patriotic American company has been giving comfort and resources to a communist country. Not to mention one of thier top executives, former no. 2 to be exact, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for theft. Is it any wonder that Wal-Mart was the second largest corporate contributor to the Republican Party? This is what they actually stand for. In the case of words vs. actions, actions always win.

Now we have a new terrorist attack to worry about right? Well not really. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories, but I do believe in realistic selfish actions, as humans of all races, religions and ideologies are extraordinarily selfish. I also believe that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. To take these rationales and apply them to Bush and his Cronies, I see no reason why they would not invent these Orange Alerts right after the Democratic Convention. After all, we have had no Orange Alerts since the election. INCLUDING AFTER THIS RECENT TERROR PLOT! (no a desperate president actually called for a code red this time. BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!!!)Maybe there was a terror plot, maybe the otherwise usless President actually did something right for a change, or maybe Bush told Blair to hold off foiling a small and obviously overhyped wanabe terrorist plot till after Lieberman got his ass kicked. Maybe Blair’s terror plot is British scare-tactic politics as weak as the terror plot they uncovered here in the states a few months ago. Maybe I’ll never know the truth and maybe I don’t care. I’m tired of living my life in fear of an invisible boogey man. You can only cry wolf so many times.

The only thing I know for sure is that British intelligence is responsible for this latest bust, not our own anti-terror forces. Who are just as weak as they were before 9-11. We are no safer now than before 9-11!

Terrorism is not the new Communism, although on second thought, maybe it is. Terrorism is being used in the same way communism was, to generate fear into the hearts of good tax-paying citizens, so they don’t mind plopping their hard earned money into missiles, planes, tanks and guns (oh and gasoline for the tanks and planes). More importantly, so they don’t mind sending their sons and daughters off to war. When the war is ultimately unjustified (such as Vietnam), the effort backfires. So does the fact that robber barons are getting rich off selling defective armor to our military, and that Dick Cheney’s Halliburton is not only been accused of fraud by the military, but is making billions off the death of innocent civilians and U.S. troops.

That’s not conspiracy, that’s fact. It’s bold in congressional record, and not disputed at all by anyone other than the accused parties themselves. Yet no inquiry has been launched, Halliburton has walked free and even got money the Military knew it was being defrauded for. It pays to have friends in high places.

Which brings me to my original point. Distraction. This is what they don’t want you to see, so they’ll call you a Communist or a left-wing detractor if you don’t keep your mouth shut. Meanwhile public education, social security, the military, the bureaucracy, labor, industry, the economy and the social fabric of America are all deteriorating rapidly. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, just keep staring at the big scary eye of terror.

You see, when you put their words against their actions, a different world emerges. A world where more fear comes from the government itself than from the enemy. However in the great words of the last truly great American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”