What country is this, where it is considered patriotic not to question, where it is considered "American" to accept authority without dissent? What is this place that calls itself "land of the free" and legislates tyranny -- concealing brutal breaches of liberty under the guise of USA Patriot Act?
That calls itself "home of the brave" and drops 6,000 bombs in urban areas?
That became great as a land of immigrants and is becoming self-righteous as a land of xenophobes (champagne down the toilet and freedom fries)?
That calls "president" a man who wasn't elected?
That believes what it hears on Fox News -- somehow the most popular news source in America today?
That is deaf to the advice of its friends?
That is blind to the consequences of its actions?
That denounces weapons of mass destruction in the same sentence it introduces the "Mother of All Bombs?"
That condemns 16 U.N. resolution violations by Iraq while turning a blind eye to 64 violations by Israel?
Where 68 percent of the people approve of the job being done by the world's greatest threat (if you don't believe me about how deeply the world resents what Bush and his creepy gang are doing, take a spin through opinion polls by leading newspapers around the globe)?
That preaches democracy to its citizens and practices tyranny to the world?
That helps oppressive dictators to power and then wages wars in the name of liberation (an incomplete list of dictators who were directly supported by U.S. policy: Saddam, Pinochet, Castello Branco, Stroessner, Videla, Osama, Khomeini, Mujahedeen, Noriega, Pahlevi, Sese Seko, Suharto, Musharraf, the long list goes on)?
That thinks bombing will result in democracy after it has failed 22 times (22 countries have been bombed by the U.S. since WWII, and none of them became a democracy with military intervention)?
That doesn't teach about these things in its schools?
That "evolved" from the enlightened self-interest of the Marshall Plan into the destructive madness of Wolfowitz, Cheney, Bush and company?
That believes God is on its side?
That demands protection of the Geneva Convention for its own soldiers, while violating the same convention in its treatment of suspects held at Guantanamo Bay?
That lets its future be guided by the neoconservative extremists of the AEI and Cato Institute, while ignoring humanistic intellectuals like Vidal, Mailer and Chomski?
That believes in military victory after Osama bin Laden's Sept. 11 strike rendered the concept outdated?
That sends its soldiers to fight for a lie?
That creates its own enemies and foments their hatred?
Where free speech is allowed in theory but not utilized in practice?
Whose president labels himself "leader of the free world" when he couldn't put together a coalition of the bribed against a bloody dictator whom everyone despises?
That is naive enough to believe its troops will be greeted as liberators by a people their leaders betrayed ?
That so many are so blindly proud of, where so many sheepishly heed the whims of reckless leaders?
This is a country where I am allowed to ask these questions, where I am not alone in doing so. It is a country that, at Nuremberg, endorsed the principle that people are obligated to disobey laws that lead to crimes against humanity.
This is the country that inspired the world to revolt against oppressive authority. But now it is a country where so many are passively swallowing lies, where a mainstream media ruled by special interests spoon-feeds the public deception.
This is a country where many are still paralyzed by Sept. 11 -- a nation that is allowing its government to betray the very ideals America was founded upon. The question is how long it will take for the majority to wake up.
