Dave Winer says:
I seriously think my country has lost its mind. We’re getting the
best wakeup call possible with the torture bill. We’re getting the
warning, if we re-elect the Republican Congress, we deserve what we
get.
width=”108″>However,
it’s not up to me, it’s up to the Republicans. That’s the basic truth.
If you love the Constitution, if you love this country, how can you
support what Congress just did. I struggle to find something to say,
but then there really is nothing left. If the Republican voters can’t
figure this one out, we’re totally screwed.
Here is my response to Dave just now:
First, and perhaps most important, your focus on Republicans makes wise sense. We need to gain allies in the Republicans. The Republicans hold the keys in this current political environment. And the responsibility, by the way.
Dave, this post about the country is my favorite in a long time–a very important post which deserves wide reading. Pamphleteering in the best sense. What more can I say. I am sad. Period.
The “war on terrorism” is completely manufactured. As someone said recently, terrrorism is not an opponent, it is a tactic. The way to deal with it is through police work and spying.
Our nation is at war, however. Ask the troops, the families, the survivors, the defense contractors. Neil Young says it well, with the title to his album “Songs in a Time of War.” This is our era. But, many ask, who is the war against, and why are we fighting it?
There is no opponent worthy of the name. There is no threat worthy of the dying. Bush, with the support of congress, has unleashed a real war against sham enemies.
The answer is that we are fighting a war in order that the President and his allies can benefit from what are usually the secondary benefits of a war–silencing of dissent, cowing of the opposing party, consolidation of executive power, suspension of individual rights, and war profiteering by friends in business.
What is so frightening is how effective Bush and his friends have been at gaining these benefits. Perhaps they can focus almost exclusively on maximizing these benefits, given that there is no real opponent in the war per se.
One of the interesting things to consider is the difference between wars with real, credible opponents–and wars with sham opponents. The Vietnamese as a threat to the United States? The Iraqies as a threat to the “American Homeland”? The Cubans?
What are we thinking…
