bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2003-02-13 11:45 pm
bigmacbear) wrote2003-02-13 11:45 pm
We got rid of George III only to have to put up with George II?
I happened to read the later entry you'll find here on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fj's page. He's disallowed commenting directly but I think what he has to say puts a lot of my own thoughts and fears in perspective. I especially liked the following quote:
So yeah, guess the fuck what: people worldwide see Bush as having pulled this crisis out of his ass for some reason and riding it into the glorious Western susnset, no doubt hearing Ennio Morricone in the background. And people don't like it.
It seems obvious to me that a good chunk (but by no means the whole) of Bush's motivation for war with Iraq is distinctly personal -- he's trying to finish the job his father started back in 1991, or alternatively, he's acting out a personal vendetta because SoDamn Insane tried to kill his father.
FJ goes on to point out that the freedoms we so rightly cherish in this country are in some sense no longer available, that these days dissent is to an alarming degree being shouted down by government functionaries, the media (Fox News is particularly egregious in this regard, I'll admit, which is why I refuse to watch them anymore), and even the proverbial man-on-the-street. I chalk a lot of that up to the slow strangulation of the two-party system, as politics has become so thoroughly homogenized that neither major party has anything real to offer and those people who do are shunted aside.
But what really galls me about this lopsided force of public opinion is the way certain functionaries in the government -- John Ashcroft being the most egregious example -- are taking advantage of it to destroy the very foundations of our liberty, such that Bush might as well be king for the power his lackeys have amassed for him. I've given some thought as to the likelihood that George II, emboldened by the fiasco of the 2000 election and by the incredible powers he and Ashcroft have arrogated unto themselves, might actually abrogate the Constitution entirely to remain in power indefinitely, thus becoming the despot we once fought a war to get rid of.
Let me get this straight -- we got rid of George III only to end up two-hundred-and-some-odd years later having to deal with George II?
Actually, I think FJ's quite right to be disgusted with the state of America these days. I certainly am. But somehow I think Bush understands that this country will not stand for too much more of this tinkering with the Constitution, even in wartime. I suppose there's nothing for it but to ride out the war that W. is bound and determined to get us into, and make damn sure he does not get re-elected.
The Chinese have a curse that goes, "May you live in interesting times." I think it apt for this day and age.
fj's page. He's disallowed commenting directly but I think what he has to say puts a lot of my own thoughts and fears in perspective. I especially liked the following quote:So yeah, guess the fuck what: people worldwide see Bush as having pulled this crisis out of his ass for some reason and riding it into the glorious Western susnset, no doubt hearing Ennio Morricone in the background. And people don't like it.
It seems obvious to me that a good chunk (but by no means the whole) of Bush's motivation for war with Iraq is distinctly personal -- he's trying to finish the job his father started back in 1991, or alternatively, he's acting out a personal vendetta because SoDamn Insane tried to kill his father.
FJ goes on to point out that the freedoms we so rightly cherish in this country are in some sense no longer available, that these days dissent is to an alarming degree being shouted down by government functionaries, the media (Fox News is particularly egregious in this regard, I'll admit, which is why I refuse to watch them anymore), and even the proverbial man-on-the-street. I chalk a lot of that up to the slow strangulation of the two-party system, as politics has become so thoroughly homogenized that neither major party has anything real to offer and those people who do are shunted aside.
But what really galls me about this lopsided force of public opinion is the way certain functionaries in the government -- John Ashcroft being the most egregious example -- are taking advantage of it to destroy the very foundations of our liberty, such that Bush might as well be king for the power his lackeys have amassed for him. I've given some thought as to the likelihood that George II, emboldened by the fiasco of the 2000 election and by the incredible powers he and Ashcroft have arrogated unto themselves, might actually abrogate the Constitution entirely to remain in power indefinitely, thus becoming the despot we once fought a war to get rid of.
Let me get this straight -- we got rid of George III only to end up two-hundred-and-some-odd years later having to deal with George II?
Actually, I think FJ's quite right to be disgusted with the state of America these days. I certainly am. But somehow I think Bush understands that this country will not stand for too much more of this tinkering with the Constitution, even in wartime. I suppose there's nothing for it but to ride out the war that W. is bound and determined to get us into, and make damn sure he does not get re-elected.
The Chinese have a curse that goes, "May you live in interesting times." I think it apt for this day and age.