So, as many of you know, I married into a primarily conservative family. Nice folks and all, but talking politics doesn't get us anywhere. I think the last political conversation we had was about what has George Bush done to personally harm me and I answered with, "He tried to kill off my brother for no good reason." Not very classy of me, but it has ended such discussions for a few years.
So today in my inbox I get this email originally attributed to Jay Leno. I snoped it and forwarded that on to my father-in-law, who sent the email originally along with some commentary of my own. And yeah, if you send me a chain email, I'm first off going to see if it is even a valid story and let you know if it isn't, even more so if it is a scam. It is a small and annoying service I provide.
That said, the part about the email I find funny is a litany of services the government provides. So to attribute this as a conservative talking point considering their hate of government and of taxes, is ironic and sad to me. Let's face it, conservatives subscribe to the Grover Norquist notion that follows: "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years...to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."
In any event, this has been bugging me all day in an itch-at-the-back-of-your-mind kind of way.
Conservatives have been led to believe two things. One, anyone who disagrees with Bush is some form of quisling, anti-American traitor. This, thankfully, has been diminished since it has become obvious he's a frigging delusional liar. Also, it is patently false, but truth doesn't seem to matter to the GOP anymore.
That said, the other point they usually make about anyone who criticizes the system is just as harmful. This one follows, as does the article sent to me, that folks who complain about the state of affairs in the world don't appreciate how good they have it. I will admit, some of it does sound like whining, but take it for what is actually is, which is not settling for less.
First off, we do not live in a perfect world. Racism abounds, as does sexism, bigotry, hate crimes, child abuse, and outside much of the major industrial countries organized sex rings, child labor, slavery, and genocide. To sit back in a suburb, watch 500 channels of cable TV, pay some illegals to build a deck, and tune out of the issues is complete and utter surrender.
Sure, we can't all storm into Darfur, rebuild the Antarctic ice shelf, and stop Brazilian clear cutting, but to ignore at least checking to see if there is something you can do on a personal level is just shallow. Same thing goes for not sitting idly by and letting the GOP tear up the Constitution like it is "just a goddamned piece of paper" as Bush calls it.
Look, I love my country enough to not quietly let some fundamentalist zealots legalize torture, illegal imprisonment, and turning the US into a police state. It doesn't make me unhappy as a person. I can love my life and the place I live in. I can also be real disenchanted with the current crop of leaders who are taking a dump on 200 years of history and sullying the name of the place I call home.
The true "traitors," if anyone needs to be labelled such, are those who let the Republic and its history and laws, be shat upon by ideologues who want to repress freedom at home and destroy the planet's ecology all in the name of power and the almighty dollar. They should know better, and those not in power should know better to not fall under their propaganda's sway.
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