PittsburghThoughts

No one ask me, but ... 

The thing that disturbs me unmercilessly, almost as much as the crisis of militarism and our gradual loss of humanity, is the right wing's inability to appraise their failures. At every turn, any criticism that they level against political rivals, ( And don't they love to point the finger?) they have, on their side, countless, outrageous examples of systematic breakdown and pure incompetence double wrapped in hubris.

The truth is evident not in words, they can always find eloquent spokesman and women, but in the minutia of our daily lives: the price of gas, our lack of any national goals or ideals, the feeling that we are all Americans and any one child without access to medical care, any utility company willing to break or bend the rules for profit is an outrage for all of us.

If, as has been established, corporations are persons with rights and freedom of speech they should be held to the same standards that the poorest are held to. Were is their patriotism? Why is it always business as usual back home when our best and brightest are dying, fighting for a lie?

I can think of nothing more satisfying or just than having Donald Rumsfeld serving prison meals, Dick Cheney marking off the days left and weighing whether he'll live to see the sky again, George W. Bush explaining before a judge why he didn't know he was committing war crimes, why he didn't know violating international treaties was a crime, why he thinks murdering innocent people is good foreign policy.

Gitmo should be kept up and running as a monument to our national shame, but housing only the fabulously audacious public servants that abuse their charge, their pledge to uphold the constitution and work to defeat the dream of a fair and just America, a good country to raise our kids, not a nightmare of probable calamities waiting to befall us.

Primarily, Americans need to grow up and stop being afraid, stop allowing ourselves to be controlled by it, stop thinking being inflexible is a good thing, stop pretending that we are still pioneers on the frontier and individuality means being insular. Pride has preceded our fall, and only humility will bring us back.    Gene