A note: this is the personal opinion of the author, Jack Grant, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Joe Gandelman, the proprietor of this weblog.
Cross-posted to Random Fate.
In an article discussing the move of Apple from PowerPC to Intel based processors I read this of all things:
(The Macintosh sycophancy) …reminds me of another self-justifying group of Americans that will approve anything their party does, no matter what (apparently its leadership believes it’s reasonable to frame all discourse as us versus the-rest-of-the-world; the rest of the world now including all dissenting Americans).
It seems you cannot get away from politics these days.
However, some others have noticed the same tendencies of “us versus the-rest-of-the-world, with the rest of the world now including all dissenting Americans”. For example, the Commissar at The Politburo Diktat takes to task a prominent right-wing blog for using rhetoric that the Commissar feels is hateful:
Recently, here and here, I harshly criticized Captain Ed and other Main Stream Floggers. As far as this post today of Captain Ed’s, a post whose tone matches the worst of Charlie Rangel, Howard Dean, and dKos, I regret what I said the other day. I regret that I did not denounce this hateful rhetoric in strong enough terms.
Another blogger asked me recently, “Do you still consider yourself a Republican? Yes, I do. And I ask in return, “Is Captain Ed’s post Republican?” Is that what the GOP stands for? Waving the bloody shirt? Tarring anyone who disagrees with intransigence as a lyncher?
I suggest you read the entire post by the Commissar and the links he refers to, but please take his remarks in context. He does not necessarily agree with what follows.
So, as I ask repeatedly, is this how we really want things to work?
Can we not frame things in any way other than “us versus the-rest-of-the-world , with the rest of the world now including all dissenting Americans”?
This seems to be the fundamental tactic of the current administration, with deliberate nominations of controversial figures for the purposes of both explicitly demonstrating the power of the administration in getting what it wants, and in rewarding those who have been personally loyal to the man who is currently President.
In other words, personal loyalty to George W. Bush is apparently perceived to be a more relevant qualification than any experience or other factors for any position.
Excuse me, but isn’t this how any two-bit dictator, including the late yet unlamented regime in Iraq, operates?
Loyalty to an individual, NOT to the system.
Take a step outside of your partisan prejudices for a moment and look at the bigger picture.
Look at history, look at where we have been, and in light of that, look at where we appear to be going.
The current administration is pushing for making the USA PATRIOT Act permanent, and Congress is attempting to even expand the ability of the FBI and other government agencies to conduct searches with no judicial review. The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee holding hearings on the renewal isn’t even willing to hear dissenting voices.
The current administration has signed the RealID Act, a bill passed without any kind of public hearing or input, which provides an easy way for large corporations to gather information on and track any individual along with increasing government surveillance of individuals, not to mention what the identity thieves will be able to do in terms of invading privacy (oh, and by they way, this ill-thought out bill was sponsored and pushed by the very same man who refused to listen to any dissenting voices on renewal and extension of the USA PATRIOT Act).
How long before I, a patriotic American, am regarded as a “person of interest” because I am an expatriate in France?
Will I have to give up any semblance of privacy in order for me to return to my country of birth?
How long before you, who posts on a weblog, is regarded as a “person of interest” because you wrote something that didn’t conform with the government line?
The preamble to our Constitution states:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
This was written by men who had not so long before fought and risked death for treason to establish their liberties.
What are the Blessings of Liberty?
Do those Blessings include establishing an extra-legal prison?
Do those Blessings include establishing the precedent that the President can declare anyone, US citizen or not, an enemy combatant with no recourse to any review, and no right to counsel?
Do those Blessings include establishing a mandatory national ID card that is machine readable, as outlined by the RealID Act?
Do those Blessings include establishing a system where dissenting voices are ignored and cut off?
Men fought and died to give us the Blessings of Liberty that we have enjoyed.
Men fought and died to defend the honor of our nation.
Are we honoring their legacy?
My answer: No, we are not, instead we are throwing it away and most don’t even notice, while others who claim to be patriots cheer.