Settle for Nothing

In a previous entry, I posted the following:

I've been a citizen of this country for 8,923 days as of noon today, and for the life of me: I don't know how I'm still capable of feeling "surprise." Every fucking day, my conscience is filled headlines of bad decisions and failed comprehension and just shitty taste on the part of American citizens. Every day, I'm fucking disgusted to be a part of this nation. And yet, somehow, I woke up today and I was surprised. Again.

Well friends - compatriots - comrades - every day, I realize that things are a bit more fucked every single day I read the news.

Unless you were in a vegetative state from the years 2000 to 2008, you probably know that America contracted the worst epidemic in its history. Besides the fact that a record budget surplus morphed into a record budget deficit - and besides the fact that America embarked on a trillion-dollar war started by lies - and besides the fact that pools of lies and falsities were created in order to justify an ideology that boils down to nothing more that bigotry, racism and greed - and besides the fact that residents of an entire city remained stranded while their livelihoods were washed away - and besides the fact that the country's approval was lower at the end of the era than it had been for nearly any other president ever - I'm sure we can agree to disagree that President Bush wasn't that bad.

So what does an ex-President do when the only job he's ever had was as a political leader and when - frankly - he was genuinely shitty at it? What else? He becomes a motivational speaker and embarks on a nationwide tour sharing his vast array of knowledge and experience to a nation filled with his supporters. He also, apparently, writes a memoir.

Rest assured, however, that neither of those two facts caught me by surprise: The man's made a fortune spewing forth bullshit and rhetoric to anyone who'll listen and every fucking person with opposable thumbs has written a memoir. As a matter of fact, the thing that surprised me most of all was - wait for it - the content of the book.

In particular, there were two main points of interest that I'd like to focus on. The first one's pretty petty overall, but the second - oh, the second one's a doozie....

1. Out of all of the fucked up shit that George Bush caused...errr, experienced...as asshole-in-chief, he says the one thing that stands out the most was his beef with Kanye West. In particular, he said that Kanye's attack was the worst moment in his presidency. Worse than killing innocent people? Worse than 9/11? Worse even than your explanation of a very simple anthropology term? Oh George: How curious you are....
2. Here's the kicker though: George Bush went public defending his support of water-boarding  and other torturous policies as "interrogation methods."

In particular, Bush's logic to Matt Lauer was:

I believe we're developing tools within the constitution to [deal with suspected terrorists]; some people in this country want to get rid of them and they're wrong...you can't expect me and people in this government to do what we need to do to protect you and your family if we don't have the tools that we think are necessary.

So Lauer replies that the key phrase in Bush's justification is within the constitution, after which he points out that the secret CIA facilities which Bush admitted sponsoring were actually against international law according to Amnesty international. Bush's response?

So what?...We just disagree with them. And plus, it's my job to protect you....

To me, folks, that's how we know that America isn't free and that's the reason that these new tea party conservatives are so dangerous: They're promoting a removal of government from everyday lives. Even with government present, our freedoms are being destroyed; what happens if we abandon that entirely?

The whole reason I decided to address this issue is because of today's CNN QuickVote Poll.

The fact of the matter is that just a tad shy of the majority of poll-takers are saying that robbing a person of his or her constitutional freedoms is completely okay. So not only are our freedoms being stolen: 40% of us are saying that we're so unsympathetic to the human condition that we're willing to to let the government have our brother's freedom as well. If that isn't a problem to you, I'm not sure anything else I say here will matter at all.

I'd like to leave you today with something I feel is just as applicable now as it was 65 years ago when it was penned.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
     Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
     Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
     Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me --
    and there was no one left to speak for me.
      -Martin Niemöller

We're at a unique time as Americans where we actually have the hindsight necessary to understand what actually constitutes a bad decision; if we don't grow up and actually use that hindsight, history's going to repeat itself continually until the freedom that we love and fertilize and evangelize will dissipate into a thing of myth.

If we don't take action now, we settle for nothing later.