Up until this election, I had faith that the majority of Americans were not sheeple who would blindly follow such a blatant hypocrite, liar and war-monger as George W. Bush. Part of me refuses to believe that they really did— after all, when the CEO of the largest manufacturer of electronic voting machines sends a memo around that says that they have to ensure a Bush victory, one has to wonder how reliable those voting machines were— especially if there's no paper trail to double check the results against. But in the end, I am forced to accept that either most Americans are simply ignorant, gullible, too damn scared (of terrorists and/or of going to hell), too damn apathetic and/or too damn arrogant.

Let's deal with ignorant first. Studies in recent years have shown that Americans in general are ignorant of virtually anything that happens outside their borders. In some cases, I have to plead guilty to that as well. For example, five years after it happened, I discovered that Canada had created a new territory! I'm actually ashamed that I wasn't aware of this when it happened. The vast majority of Americans have trouble locating any of the fifty states on a map let alone other countries. Most Americans don't even know the history of their own nation let alone that of others. And what history they do know has been white-washed. Abraham Lincoln is seen by most as a forward thinking man who believed in equality for all since he freed the slaves. Yet if you read Lincoln's writings, you'll find a man who didn't believe that blacks were the equal of whites-- he believed they were human, but inferior humans. It was never his intent to help blacks become legal equals to the white man. By today's standards, Lincoln would have made a good Grand Dragon of the KKK. (There's also something of a persistent rumor that Lincoln was gay.) There are people who believe that "freedom of religion" only means "as long as it doesn't violate Christian principals". Most people have no idea that there are more than 1300 rights and privileges that are bestowed by marriage— and most of them cannot be achieved through any form of legal contract between same sex partners. Until the hoopla last year about the Federal Marriage Amendment, there were many people (even gays themselves) who thought it was actually legal for gays to get married in the US. How many people that you know can name the last ten presidents? (Hint, start with Eisenhower.) Or at least half the US Supreme Court justices? Or the Speaker of the House (the man who would be president if something happens to both Bush and Cheney)? How many can even name their representative to their own state's legislature? On the other hand, ask them to name ten characters on the Simpsons. Or five professional wrestlers. Or professional football teams. Which only brings to mind the old adage, "Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it." (George Santayana) (Check out this article to see history's repetition beginning to unfold.)

Let's now take a look at gullible. One need only look at how quickly the people of this nation swallow and regurgitate the misinformation contained in the soundbites put out by the radical religious right to see the gullibility of the average US citizen. In the last election, you couldn't talk to someone who was going to vote for Bush without them pointing out how much of a flip-flopper John Kerry was because the man changed his opinion about something AFTER GETTING FURTHER FACTS! That's what responsible people do: when facts change, they re-evaluate their opinions and adjust them as necessary. Only stubborn fools cling to the outdated information and insist that everything is as it once was. Televangelists have personal fortunes worth hundreds of millions of dollars— yet the gullible viewers of their TV pleas still send in their rent money and their food money to help "combat the gay agenda"— which doesn't really exist. The president nominates a man for attorney general— a man who is charged with protecting our rights— who spent untold hours combing through the legal treaties and documents of this nation in order to find a way to circumvent the protections guaranteed in those treaties and documents. And there's not a big uproar except from those who are watching in horror as this nation is led like a sheep to slaughter. (Check out these pages to read much more about the radical religious right's agenda to dismantle the US Constitution.)

As for afraid, this country has been ruled by extreme fear since 9/11. By fanning the flames of this fear, Bush has involved us in a never-ending war. Ask Israel how easy it is to win a war on terror. Ask them, after more than fifty years, how much closer they are to winning that war on terror using retaliation and military strikes. If peace comes to the Middle East, it will be through diplomacy, not violence. Oh, and let's not forget the "elevated terrorist threat" every time Bush's job approval rating numbers dropped. Then, when no attack came, the administration would tout Bush's "success" at protecting us from this "elevated threat". Of course, the threats were also so general and non-specific that it's hard to even verify that they ever existed. (Makes you wonder how Jeff Gannon got by the security background check to get a press pass to the White House where he was one of the regular "reporters" called on by the president. Turns out Mr. Gannon runs a gay "escort" service and charges $1200 for his "services" for a weekend and has never been a real reporter prior to receiving this assignment. If the White House didn't catch it, it says a lot about our "intelligence" ability. If the White House did catch it and let it slide, they're endorsing an illegal activity by someone who belongs to a group that they are fighting to keep second class citizens. And Gannon isn't the first "shill" to write glowing articles about Bush.) This administration fans the flames of fear about an imaginary "gay agenda" and convinces the gullible that one can "recruit" children to be gay in order to impose their religious dogma on the entire nation. Now they're using Social Security to fan the flames of fear for those who are older— when in truth all we really need to do is to stop using the monies brought in through social security tax to fund other programs and we'll be fine. The fanned the flames of fear about WMD in Iraq's possession in order for them to take control of the second largest oil reserves in the world. Fear is a very easy means to control people— and this administration as well as the radical religious right— has the use of fear down to a science. They use enough to scare you into doing what they want you to do but not enough to cause widespread panic.

In truth, though, ignorance, gullibility and fear are merely symptoms of apathy. Far too many people in the US have the same attitude one of my sister's had: if things are okay in my neck of the woods, then I don't really care what's going on elsewhere. If it doesn't affect them, they don't bother to learn about it. Since they're ignorant and don't want to appear that way, they pick up on the sound bites and use them as if they know what they're talking about. And because they remain ignorant and now are expected to take a stand on an issue they really don't know much about, they're afraid. Apathy is what kept about 40% of eligible voters home on what was probably the most important election in our entire history. Apathy is what is keeping the American people from calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush for war crimes for the authorization of torture as a means of interrogation. (Makes you wonder where the hell our priorities are when the US Congress spends almost 6 years and billions of dollars trying to impeach Clinton for getting a blow job but doesn't even blink an eye when the US president gets someone who is now the highest ranking attorney in our country to find a way to circumnavigate the Geneva Convention and the US Constitution to justify torture— something we supposedly went into Iraq to stop Saddam Hussein from doing.) There is no outraged call for impeachment for all the lies, the misrepresentations, the deceit and the inhumanity this administration has exhibited. There's no "What the hell's going on?" when the economy goes from a huge surplus to record-breaking levels of deficit month after month after month. The cost of living is going up— the administration is doing nothing seeking to cut minimum wage, maybe even do away with it completely. Corporations are being give tax credits for taking their jobs overseas while Americans run out of unemployment and still can't find jobs. The death rate among US servicemen and women is higher now than it was when we first invaded Iraq— and yet Bush declared major hostilities were over almost two years ago. And there's no outrage. Because too many Americans are just too damn apathetic. There was a sign on a little diner out by where I live that read something like "Our country and our soldiers need your support, not your criticism." Ironically, if someone had criticized more rather than following blindly, the military might not be in the situation it's in right now. It's because criticism is being silenced by this administration that we're in the position we are right now. And it's the apathy of the American public in general that allows these atrocities to continue. I suggest that each of us recall the words of Pastor Martin Niemoeller:

In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me — and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Perhaps, for me, the most disturbing thing to consider is that Americans are as arrogant as they would have to be to allow this administration to continue on the course it has set. We scream in outrage when our citizens— part of an invading armed force even if they were civilians— are mutilated after death, burned and hung for all to see. Yet we have no problem with our soldiers mocking the spiritual beliefs of soldiers defending their own country, of torturing them, of degrading them and even killing them. We scream "coward" and "traitor" at the French government when they refuse to back our war because they're looking out for the best interests of the French citizens, yet we expect the rest of the world to say, "Sure, do what you want!" when our government says it's looking out for OUR best interests. We call those soldiers defending their nation "insurgents", yet if America were invaded and people rose up to defend her, they'd be called "freedom fighters". They're only insurgents or terrorists, mind you, if they're not on our side. Our government meets the definition that George W. Bush himself used to describe a terrorist nation: and yet we call ourselves defenders of freedom, imposing what we consider the best form of government on other nations. Or at least killing more than 15,000 innocent civilians while trying to. As it turns out, the election results will install a fundamentalist Islamic regime in Baghdad— taking away scores of rights that women and children and non-Muslims had under the rule of Saddam Hussein. The arrogance feeds the hypocrisy and the hypocrisy feeds the anger at the US and the anger that the US feeds the arrogance in a never ending circle that will only result in things getting worse unless we, the citizens of the US, get off our behinds and get involved!

The new attitude is not that of the American public: they've had this same attitude since Reagan took office and the radical religious right took over the reins of power in this country. The new attitude is mine. I will not let this administration destroy this great nation. I will do all I can to wake people up— to light a fire under them and get them involved. To show them the hypocrisy of this administration and of the radical religious right. Will you join me?

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