Push and Shove

I have been thinking about the situation we (the US) find ourselves in throughout the Middle East, and it continues to boggle my mind. The underlying current of reason that prompted the Bush White House to push the Nation into this untenable position escapes my ability to deduce. Where is our adult supervision?

All my life, I have wondered about the simple phrases to which “shock and awe” has been added in the recent past. “Push and shove, “give and take”, “go around and come around”, “do unto others”, and “an eye for an eye” have all been part of the language I was raised with, and I am finally able to understand exactly why. Each of these phrases are meant to imply consequences for each and every action taken as an individual or as a Nation. What they don’t adequately imply is the extent of those consequences when you are initiating an act on a less than moral basis (such as a pre-emptive attack against the civilian population of a country already struggling under your boot heel). Every now and then, I hear one of the media spinmeisters mention unintended consequences, and I simply nod my head. Who could’ve guessed?

I find it extremely interesting that we were forced to endure hour upon hour of “shock and awe” from the major (so called) news networks when this conflict was initiated, but now that we are ass deep in the mire, we are forced to endure hour upon hour of Anna Nicole Smith and other non-war content. It is almost as if someone is trying to manipulate our attention away from the issues that are extremely important to our ability to make critical decisions about our leadership… unless those issues reflect favorably upon that leadership.

We have been herded from one pre-election issue to another by the political cattle-prod of fear mongering by an administration that deviously thrust itself into power, and then used illegal means (manipulating electronic voting machines) to stay there. Their blatant disregard for the intelligence of the average citizen has finally caught up with them, and turned public opinion against their greed and avarice, but it is obvious that the last chapter of this horror story has yet to be written. I am hopeful that the plethora of hearings being conducted by the Democratic Majority will create a demand for justice that will provide a prison wardrobe for every official complicit in the corruption of the People’s trust (including those who have jumped ship or been removed because they aren’t devious enough to suit Cheney).

Regardless of the political and legal outcome of the Bush travesties, the concept of “what goes around comes around” will be a long time playing itself out in our relationship with the many small nations throughout the world suffering from the results of the Neocon playbook. I sincerely believe that our best hope to bring balance and harmony back into this world is to give the Democratic Party a super majority in both the House and Senate in 2008 with the understanding that we expect to see a vast overhaul of the institutions that are responsible for leading us away from the ideals of the American Dream.