|
Choices and Consequences
By Charles Sullivan
01/13/06 "ICH"
-- --
Many of you will recall that the Bush regime came into office
with the bold promise to restore integrity to the White House.
What they have done, however, is desecrate the office of the
presidency with drunken belligerency and unbridled criminality.
There hasn’t been real integrity in the White House for decades.
There is not an ounce of integrity to be divided amid the entire
Bush cabal—not an ounce!
Congress has degenerated into a dung heap of moral
prostitution—a system of legalized bribery without shame or
regret. It has evolved into a festering cancer that is eating
away the integrity of our national identity. We are becoming
mired in a judicial system that appears to be following a
similar path to depravity and corruption. This didn’t happen as
the result of an unfortunate accident, or by mistake. It
happened because we allowed it to happen; we willed it into
existence through indifference and apathy. We abrogated our duty
as citizens to be vigilant, informed and active. We bought the
goods those in power sold us. Now we are left to hold the bag
and the bottom is falling out.
Never in the course of the American experiment has a more opaque
and secretive government occupied the White House. Never has a
more anti-democratic group of miscreants slithered through the
halls of power. Democracy requires transparency and openness. It
demands respect for the Constitution and for the Bill of Rights.
It requires respect for and adherence to the law. It requires a
deep and abiding deference to the people and to the public good.
It esteems International law and the rights of other nations to
sovereignty. It respects the right to privacy of its citizens.
The Bush cabal has done none of those things. Indeed, they have
consistently shown not only disdain for the higher principles of
civil society—they are openly contemptuous of them.
Bush governs in the manner of a spoiled adolescent who thinks he
can do whatever he wants. Not only does Bush think he is above
the law—he believes he is the law. A president that sees the
Constitution as an obstruction to his agenda cannot be good for
the country. George Bush presides over the most corrupt regime
ever to defile the oval office—an accomplishment that takes some
doing. Bush has probably never been held accountable for his
actions during any phase of his life. He has always surrounded
himself with enablers who will never tell the emperor that he
has no clothes. This would account for his stunning lack of life
skills.
Whatever entities Bush managed in his adult life have always met
a swift demise. This does not exactly inspire confidence now
that he has his hands on the presidency. Say goodbye to all that
is good and decent about America and welcome depravity.
The ruling principle of this regime is that might makes right.
Physical force may rule on the school playground; but it does
not hold sway in a world of nations that believe in
international treaties and the rule of law. It is justice that
makes right, not the iron fists of militarism. Rule by coercion
always results in armed conflict. Militarism can never result in
peace or social justice. Without justice there can be no peace.
Thus the lid boils off the pot in the volatile Middle East, and
beyond. You reap what you sow. Force is always met with force;
and forever with the result that good people will needlessly die
for bad causes.
We know we are in a bad place when the likes of George Bush and
his enablers in Congress come into power through the edifice of
the Supreme Court. We should realize we are in trouble when we
idolize morally bankrupt players like Donald Trump as shinning
examples for our children to emulate. America has a love affair
with the class system—with those born into positions of power
and privilege that most of us will never know, or even want to
know. To our eternal shame, these are the kind of men that
America has come to respect and to emulate. The more ruthless
and craven these men are, the louder we seem to sing their
praises.
We had the outstanding and uplifting moral example of Dr. Martin
Luther King to guide us; but we assassinated him when the nation
was on the brink of revolution. We have made our personal and
our cultural choices. Now we have to live with the consequences
of those choices. We could have had the saintly Dr. King. But we
chose George Bush and Donald Trump. If only we could wrestle
back the hands of time and choose again. Perhaps we would get it
right.
Charles Sullivan is a furniture maker, photographer, and free
lance writing living in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
He welcomes your comments at
earthdog@highstream.net
Translate
this page
(In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes.
Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the
originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) |
