Although this is a day of remembrance when "shock and awe" kicked off one of the most exasperating, horrible and heart-wrenching era in American policy, it is apt to remember the precursor (if not instigator) of a United States society held under the pressure from Post Traumatic Shock Disorder.
War is hell, yes. But fear is a mean mother. And the current Administration has perfected its tools of deterrence, suppression and hinderance by honing the nature of being scared in all the right places.
When looking back, it is almost amazing that we as an American populace has survived such ruthless and gelid abuse from our leaders. Yes, I said it: abuse. What else can you call the streams of countless alerts, searches, "Chicken Little" scaremongering, "Duct Tape/Plastic Sheet" advising, and fervent finger-wagging/crushing of dissent? The hits keep coming with the effects of the faltering housing market and the slow inching toward recession.
When we have to wonder how to pay for the groceries or whether we are on the brink of financial collapse if we have one drastic health crisis, fear continues to slowly work its malevolence until it mingles with despair and frustration. We are indeed a shell-shocked nation.
We ought to have voted with our pocket book. Instead, we've voted while being scared out of our wits.
Because of fear, our democracy (or republic?) evolves into a new type of animal: a regime emanating from the grates of a heightened threat. It's rather ugly to note that what has happened in the name of the Bush Presidency could previously be thought of a dystopian scenario made up in science fiction. But baby, welcome to our every day reality. No means Yes. Terror means submit. The "economy's all right" means corporate welfare. Public disenchantment with the Iraq War means "So?":
Q (Martha Raddatz, GMA) Two-thirds of Americans say it was not worth fighting.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: They ought to go spend time, like you and I have, Martha. You know what's been happening in Iraq. You've been there as much as anybody. There has, in fact, been fundamental change and transformation, and improvement for the better. I think even you would admit that.
Q (Martha Raddatz, GMA) Let me go back to the Americans. Two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting, and they're looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: [emphasis mine]So?
Q (Martha Raddatz, GMA) So -- you don't care what the American people think?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: [emphasis mine]No, I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls. Think about what would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had paid attention to polls, if they had had polls during the Civil War. He never would have succeeded if he hadn't had a clear objective, a vision for where he wanted to go, and he was willing to withstand the slings and arrows of the political wars in order to get there. And this President has been very courageous, very consistent, very determined to continue down the course we were on and to achieve our objective. And that's victory in Iraq, that's the establishment of a democracy where there's never been a democracy, it's the establishment of a regime that respects the rights and liberties of their people, as an ally for the United States in the war against terror, and as a positive force for change in the Middle East. That's a huge accomplishment.
What it all comes down to that when fear becomes accepted as part and parcel of our everyday lives, we lose. When our existence is hinged upon the whims of a leader's (and his cronies, by extension)hubris, we lose. And when we indulge and coddle the masses who continue to peddle this crap of believing everything that the government says, we lose.
We're past trusting our government during this era. Now it's time to act and be wise to all this ridiculousness.
We can't take this anymore. It is breaking us as a people.
Update: article changed under the link of "It's breaking us as a people"; I realized that I had the wrong one. Thank you for your patience with tired eyes in the dead of night.