Though it is very likely that a lot of people are suffering from depression, I actually feel good. Because I know what I/we have to do.
It isn't going to be enough to get rid or isolate the boy king at the top of the heap. We are going to have to address the reality that we are a spoiled brat nation and it's going to take a lot of work to turn it around.
Even the destructive behavior of our business leaders, which is the causing the anger in the rest of the world, is just a symptom of our inability to control ourselves and our impulses.
Jimmy Carter identified a national malaise (meaning "ill at ease") in the country almost a quarter century ago and the country got rid of him because it didn't want to face that he was right. And it certainly didn't want to be led by a man who "lusted in (his) heart" and didn't do anything about it. It didn't want to be led by a man who practiced self-restraint and expected his country to do so as well.
What America preferred then and what it got was a bunch of leaders who smiled and said, if you want to be a bully, go ahead and, by the way, we'll even show the way. And as a result we've had a quarter century during which the country has gotten ever more self-indulgent and ever more fearful that at some point in time the rest of the world is going to say "enough is enough."
Well, if we are going to avoid that eventuality, then we are going to have to say it ourselves. Enough is enough. Now it's time to grow up, do away with the toys of childhood and practice some self-restraint.
And the first place we can do that is by restraining the impulses of the boy king. I have felt for a long time that it was wrong to heed the injunction that international relations ought not to be discussed in public, especially not in the venues of a campaign for president. It was wrong. Because that's the one area where the executive has almost unfettered power and, besides, the results of this forbearancehave been disasterous, ever since the world's bully became too strong for other nations to challenge. Moreover, in a shrinking world, our relations with the rest of the globe are more important than anything else.
The other thing that I've thought was wrong was this notion that the executive is entitled to choose his henchmen with narry an objection. That might we appropriate if the people who are willing to serve the public and support our Constitution are beyond reproach and their behavior makes them entirely trustworthy. That isn't the case now and hasn't been for some time. We have seen too many examples of people who do not tell the truth being put into positions of power. No more should that go unchecked.
In the case of Rice and Gonzales there's no question that they are unfit. Those who dissemble and promote torture are not morally fit to assume any office outlined in our Constitution.
So, that's a start.
Posted by Hannah at January 22, 2005 12:01 PM