This "Foley Scandal" has finally done it. As painful as it is for me to admit, the America I longed for, worked so hard for, and was sure would exist one sweet day is probably finally dead. And, while we were all watching the Bush Administration's experiments in Fascism... thinking it was the gutting of our Constitution, the loss of our Civil Liberties, and the creeping lack of tolerance for anyone who isn't rich, white, and Christian, we looked to these things as what would finally bring this beautiful experiment in Democracy to her end. How wrong we were.
And, there is enough blame in both Parties for the fix we find ourselves in today. This whole downward spiral started with a bang, not a whimper, and we, along with our duly elected Democratic President aided and abetted. It could have all been stopped with a simple "It's none of your goddamned business," but President Clinton instead said, "I never had sex with that woman" instead. And, that's when the game was kicked into high gear, and the Theft of America began in earnest.
In his zeal to be the first great bi-partisan President, Bill Clinton sacrificed America's poorest to his Welfare Reform Act. America's working Class was the next to be sacrificed to his belief in globalization with NAFTA. And, once the Republicans were sure the media was able to be conglomeratized enough for them to control from within because of Clinton's Media De-Regulation, they used that media to crucify him publicly. Their persecution was so complete, so thorough, his administration was completely ham-strung for almost its last three years with. He was virtually rendered unable to perform the duties a majority of the American people elected him to perform because of an act of marital infidelity. Special Prosecutor, Ken Starr, was relentless. Instead of hearing about the threats to our safety and security, we were treated nightly to details of the President's most private affairs. We watched as the First Lady was humiliated with these details, and when she stood her ground, and fought for her narriage, she was crucified along with him. They smacked his outstretched hand, and punished him (and us) for his "bipartisanship". His "Bridge to the Twenty-first Century" was then blocked forever with the stolen election of 2000. Al Gore and the American people became casulaties of this first great step into their web.
That stolen election brought us the George W. Bush presidency. He and his administration now controlled the White House, as well as both arms of Congress. They could have done anything to this country, legally, but as we all know, they chose to start the dismantling of the country, her Constitution, and her way of life about ten minutes after his first inaugural address was over. The headlines that day were about the missing W's on the keyboards of some of the computers in the West Wing. The smoke and Mirrors of Karl Rove were officially inaugurated along with Bush that day as both he and his dirty tricks, obfiscation, and lies were given an office in the White House.
Then, on September 11, 2001, the greatest disaster in America's history happened. We were given an invincible George Bush that day. We watched as he sat transfixed for eight minutes in a schoolroom, holding a children's book while they scrambled to get his Vice President to safety. Then they put this President into Air Force One, and hip-hopped him all over the country, with his whereabouts broadcast constantly. He was airborne, like some giant skeet just ready for the big shoot-down, but Cheney was safe in an "undisclosed location" with about a dozen doctors, a bunch of heart defibrulators, and the power of government in his hands. It was at that point that Rove dared to expose the real head of government. He knew it was safe, you see... we were busy looking elsewhere. While "President" Bush was in his plane, they took now famous pictures of him to be sold to high-paying donors at a later date. While Cheney remained in his "undisclosed location" we know they flew "President" Bush to Ground Zero to breathe the same air we now know they knew was some of the most hazardous for breathing anywhere in the U.S. Were they worried? We'll probably never know. But, they did shove a megaphone into his hands, and he gave them another "historic" photo-op, one that cemented his presidency from that day on... a moment that would allow the Theft of America to roll forward unimpeded to this day. Rove was good. He gave us a Hero President... the same man who had sat transfixed for eight minutes in a schoolroom, holding a children's book while the Twin Towers exploded into piles of rubble was seen as America's Hero. He became symbolic of the courage of America's people... feisty, unafraid... we would
all be seen in the light of his actions that day. A nation of cowboys, ready to rumble.
Next, Rove gave us a Hero President who talked to God. The Extremists of the Christian Right brought their minions to him in exchange for the power to turn America into the Christian country they had promised their congregations for so long. God had chosen Bush as our President. It was official. We were now a nation of
holy Christian cowboys, ready to rumble, and we had God on our side. We wouldn't know it for awhile, but that was the day our holy war against the infidels began. The President God chose then set about to do God's work, but now in our name. He labelled three non-Christian countries of his choosing "The Axis of Evil", and it was with that one fell swoop he and his government set about making enemies of each of our allies, one by one. (Who among us will ever forget the foolishness that was "Freedom Fries"? But, I digress.)
As more of the same progressed, and countries that were once our friends opted out of any "Coalition of the Willing" with us, Bush saddled us up and we went into Iraq virtually alone. "Pre-emptively", he said. Too many Democrats voted along with almost all the Republicans to allow him to take our sons and daughters, our husbands and wives, our friends, our familiy members, and invade a sovereign country... the first one mentioned in the "Axis of Evil", as a matter of fact... to to save us from "being inihilated by their Weapons of Mass Destruction", er, no... to "save them from the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein", er, no.... to "bring them Democracy".... yeah, that's it.
To bring them Democracy.On the altar of shared "democracy", the Bush administration sacrificed the identity of a CIA agent and the identities of those she worked with and their mission; set up prisons at Abu Graib and Guantanemo Bay where the Geneva Conventions were quickly gutted; and, a bunch of purple fingers aside, a government of our choosing was imposed on them. Now, before we come down too hard on the Republicans for not really delivering the Iraqi people to the American version of "democracy" they were promised, I have to say that they truly
did give them American-style "democracy". Our next election would prove that, no problem!
We got, not purple fingers when we voted, but an election gave us Bush-style "democracy" right between the eyes, courtesy of a masterful campaign run by Karl Rove, and an election more than some feel was again stolen... enabled by that same Rove-orchestrated campaign. Rove took a Bush -- a man who had never served in the armed services successfully, some even called him AWOL -- and made him a Hero of National Patriotism. (To criticize him was to be unpatriotic, even.) Then he took a genuine Democratic War Hero -- one who had actually seem action against an American enemy in a time of war, had earned Medals for his actual valor, had actually led men into real fighting -- and under his hand, an entire Republican convention donned bandaids with purple hearts on them made him into a symbol to be mocked, shamed, and labelled a coward. Shame on Kerry and his campaign for letting that happen. Shame on us for not demanding the gloves come off right then and there. Instead we watched one state after another go to Bush. "How could the exit polling have been so wrong?", we all asked. Uh-huh. Ohio sealed the deal this time.
Ensconced, not by the Supreme Court this time, but some say by Diebolds and other e-voting machines, Bush now had the power. He went on to preside over the continuing disasters in Iraq, the devastation of New Orleans that was Katrina, the loading of the Supreme Court with Christian-Right ideologue judges, the gutting of our Constitution with his signing statements, a relentless assault on our Civil Rights with the Patriot Acts I & II, a deficit that has all but bankrupted our National Treasury while giving the working poor the inability to file for personal bankruptcy. To give the Bushies credit, this is actually
a lot like the "democracy" we brought Iraq. They certainly
do keep their word! As we move ever closer to the end of the right of Choice for all women, public displays of Christianity -- especially in public places of government, and the ability of this President to name
any American an "Enemy Combatant" by virture of evidence from warrantless wiretaps, they have still managed for the Richest to receive masive tax cuts. And, scandal after scandal, they remain untouched.
So, you'll forgive me if I admit to you as I write this, that I don't know how this Foley-gate will turn out. There are some who think that this is Rove's "Night of the Long Knives". Thinking of how well a purge of all those pesky homosexuals from their government would go over with their base, I have to wonder. But then, their base is already beginning to rumble over promises to them yet unfilled. Will this scandal just be one too many? I don't know. But, I do know this: Foley-gate is about to put an end to something. And, I'm just afraid it will be my beloved America, as I once thought she would be. I can't trust otherwise. Rove has been too effective up to now.
Way too effective. And, as much as it pains me to say this, our Party -- actually, one faction of our own Party -- has been absolutely complicit with him. So, I'm sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I hope with all my heart I'm wrong, and Foleygate is not ready and able to be spun into gold for the Bushies. I do, however think it's sad that this country, as we all knew it, will probably be rendered unrecoverable. America deserved a better epitaph than a White Elected Republican "Good Christian" Male sitting in front of his computer with his hand down his tightie-whities, getting his jollies over talking to underage pages about, among other filth, "the one-eyed snake".
I weep for this country.
TC
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