Drinking the Kool-Aid
26 July 2004
"I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT I WILL SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC; THAT I WILL BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SAME; AND THAT I WILL OBEY THE ORDERS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE ORDERS OF THE OFFICERS APPOINTED OVER ME, ACCORDING TO REGULATIONS AND THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE. SO HELP ME GOD."
United States Military Oath of Enlistment
I'm a patriot and a veteran. I've given six years of my life to the service of my country, some of that during wartime. I swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and although I'm no longer in uniform, I still take that oath very seriously. And given what I've seen recently, I have to speak up, even if I annoy some of you to the point where you don't come back.
We stand at a crossroads in the United States of America. This November we'll be asked to select our leader for the next four years. The choices are, frankly, not inspiring. The challenger is John Kerry, an amiable and soft-spoken Senator, who has served with distinction in the military and the Senate, but generally fails to inspire as a leader. He's thoughtful, intelligent, and will likely do a workmanlike job if elected President, but likely won't go down in history as a Washington, Lincoln or Truman.
The other choice is to re-elect the current President, George W. Bush. Based on his performance of the last four years, I'd think it obvious that he neither deserves nor can be allowed to have a second term in office. Bush, the self-styled "Peace President," has gotten us into not one but two wars (one justified, one not, both botched) in less than four years, has funded a tax cut for the rich by cutting funding for the poor and homeless, has pushed legislation through a cowed and willing Congress that allows clear-cutting our forests (the "Healthy Forests Act", and no, I'm not making this up; I wish I were), allows industry to pollute the air as they see fit (the "Clean Air Act", George Orwell, are you listening?) and is now talking about getting us into yet a third war, this time with Iran, who unlike Iraq, actually has been known to aid al Qaeda.
Oh, and there was also a little thing called, with the same delightful irony as the aforementioned legislation, the PATRIOT Act.
Passed in the dead of night shortly after the horrible terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, with the nation still numb and in shock, the PATRIOT Act effectively repeals much of the Bill of Rights. It allows the government to hold people suspected of being or aiding terrorists nearly indefinitely without access to legal counsel. It loosens federal wiretap laws to allow the FBI to listen in on whatever they see fit by getting a special court order that is little more than a rubber stamp. It imposes severe penalties on anyone deemed to be aiding or supporting terror, up to revocation of American citizenship. This last bit has dovetailed nicely with the Bush administration's fostering an atmosphere of fear and paranoia to chill what free speech in America the Digital Millennium Copyright Act left undestroyed.
Let me give you an example. On a recent flight from New Orleans to Houston, a middle-aged software salesman and struggling, unpublished writer was working on a crossword puzzle. Like many writers, he was in the habit of jotting down promising lines of dialogue on whatever was handy when they ran through his mind. He noticed on the flight that the flight attendants were looking at him strangely, but thought nothing of it.
When he got off the plane in Houston, however, he was quickly surrounded by representatives of the federal Transportation Security Administration. They wanted to see his crossword puzzle. There, in the margin, he had absently scribbled, "I think this is kind of a bomb."
In the ensuing six-hour interrogation, he explained that it was a line of dialogue for his book, which features nineteen-year-old characters, and this was his obviously unsuccessful attempt to capture a bit of their slang (ie. "This is bomb, yo!). After running extensive background checks and generally scaring the hell out of him, the TSA officials let him go, making certain he knew never to try this again.
Had the same thing happened to me, I'd still be in jail. I'd likely have pulled a Ben Stiller in the interrogation room ("This is because I wrote the word "bomb"? Bomb! Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb!"). Unfortunately, I still believe in the First Amendment, and grew up in a country where such things were allowed. Keep in mind, this isn't remotely the same as shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater. He scribbled a few words on a piece of paper that he didn't show to anyone else until asked. Had he wrote the word in large, block letters and waved it over his head on the plane, things might be different, but this incident is just short of Thought Police.
And while I'm not blaming this incident on George Bush personally (to the best of my knowledge, neither he nor Dick Cheney were present in the interrogation room), it is indicative of life in George W. Bush's America. Let me give you another example, a modern-day Rashomon moment.
At the end of a recent concert in Las Vegas, hardly the most conservative place on Earth, middle-aged songstress Linda Ronstadt dedicated one of her trademark encore set pieces, a cover of "Desperado" by the Eagles, to filmmaker Michael Moore, and urged the audience to see Moore's new film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." She didn't say anything at all about the President, nor did she bash the current administration in any way. She merely suggested to a group of people that already liked her enough to pay to see her perform that they watch a movie that depicted a point of view she identified with.
Doesn't sound so bad, so far, does it?
What happened next may never really be known. There are two conflicting stories, depending on who you believe. The hotel management claims Ronstadt incited a riot. The audience, composed of loyal Americans who had been enjoying the performance up to that point flew into a rage at the mention of the traitorous Moore, and stampeded to the box office, demanding their money back. The hotel management claims they had no choice but to yank Ronstadt off stage as quickly as possible, ushering her out of the building without even giving her the chance to return to her room and pack. Ronstadt was told she was under no circumstances ever welcome back to that hotel to perform.
According to others who had been in the audience during the "incident", the audience was nearly split 50/50 between clapping and good-natured boos at the mention of Moore's name, then everyone settled down and enjoyed the song. Only afterwards did the hotel management storm in and call a halt to the evening.
What really happened? I'm more inclined to believe the latter, but we'll never know for sure. What disturbs me more is the idea that the hotel management's story is even plausible. Have we digressed so far that even asking people to consider viewpoints other than the official line given by the State is considered disloyalty and treason? (Yes, there really is a movement in Washington to get Michael Moore charged with treason for his movie showing the President in a less than positive light.)
According to recent polls, Bush and Kerry are in a dead heat, each claiming nearly equal numbers of potential voters. With all I've seen, the lies to the American people and Congress about Iraq, the fact that most Americans are less safe (al Qaeda recruitment is higher now than ever), less free (read the PATRIOT Act if you can stomach it) and less well off than we were four years ago, I couldn't believe any intelligent American could in good conscience give Bush another four years.
Then I talked to Fritz.
Fritz (not his real name) is my best friend's boyfriend. He's a conservative born and raised in the Midwest, full of old fashioned traditional American values. He's intelligent, rational and I actually have a great deal of respect for him. And until recently, I couldn't understand how he could support Bush or the Republican Party in general. I had a conversation with him recently that shed a great deal of light on what's going on in America, and why Bush might get reelected not because of what he's done, but in spite of it.
Fritz and I got into a "spirited discussion" about the upcoming election. And as it wore on, it became clear to me that Fritz never directly confronted my assertions about President Bush. I'd point out that Bush got us into an illegal and unnecessary war, and he'd respond, "But what has Kerry done?" The first few times I got that reaction I kind of blew it off (NOTE TO HOMELAND SECURITY: THAT DOES NOT READ "BLEW IT UP") but it started to sink in on me. Fritz refused to accept the reality of what Bush and his fellow Republicans were doing to this country.
I can understand his reluctance. As I said, I'm a veteran and a patriot. I believe, very deeply, in the principles upon which this country was founded. I didn't want to believe we were capable of becoming what we are. I didn't want to believe we could so callously throw out much of the Bill of Rights, bully the other nations of the world for our own economic and political gain. This isn't the America I signed up for. The difference between me and conservatives like Fritz is that I do accept what's happened, and try to fix it. They're in denial.
Fritz refused to listen as my friend and I tried to explain the PATRIOT Act to him. At one point, he shouted, "No! That's not my America! I refuse to believe that!" Hitler once said that people will believe any lie, so long as it's big enough. Too many of the American people have believed the lies of the current administration because they can't face the alternative: accepting that the people are no longer in control, that the major issues of the day are decided by the super rich and their political proxies, and that the dream of American democracy is largely an illusion.
In short, the folks supporting Bush aren't doing it because of what he's done as president. They're supporting him because they want to believe he hasn't done the things he's done. If they vote for John Kerry, it's a tacit admission that all the bad things are true. They're drinking the Kool-Aid, and hoping they never wake up.
Jeff Kirvin
Jeff@writingonyourpalm.net
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