Dear Editor, I VOTED FOR BUSH.....not my lttr

[ElsewheresDaughter]

Dear Editor,

I VOTED FOR BUSH

I know. Just saying it out loud, much less seeing it in print, is embarrassing enough. America is stubborn. So am I. Knowing when to admit you are wrong and then trying to rectify it can be difficult. I'm trying now. I made a decision based on fear and chose to put Bush and his regime in office. I am sorry for that. This is a public apology.

The archaic idea of hurting those who hurt us is an easy one to embrace. I can't help but imagine what a different time we would be living in, if America had just turned the other cheek after 9/11. What if in our mourning and loss we had simply suffered quietly with dignity, instead of seeking revenge? A retribution we now know was really unattainable and empty of solace.

For a brief second we held the world's attention with our grief. We had an opportunity to bridge the differences between religions, cultural ideals and intolerance. What changes could we have made? We will never know because our government and presidency used the pain and fear Americans felt after 9/11 to create their own agendas. Add the twisted practices of the lobbyists and the frenzied media machine, and what did we get? Greed, lies, betrayal, increased national debt and total intolerance of our own country.

Worse yet, I feel personally responsible. I did this with a single vote. I have power. You have power. I never felt that, until I made this ghastly mistake. What difference does one vote make? Multiplied it makes all the difference.

I am not turning a blind eye to Saddam's “reign of terror.” But there are other countries being tormented under such tyranny, and what are we doing for them?

Bush and his party would rather see us buried in debt and death, than to admit they made the wrong decision. Who has that kind of pride, such a killing pride? What will it take to turn the tide and recreate a country with the potential to help people rather than hurt them?

Maybe I'm just fooling myself to think our country was ever based on anything honorable. Dreams die hard and I wait for a day when the majority -- the people as a whole -- get to decide whether we go to war or where our tax dollars go. THE PEOPLE who decide, instead of a dictator and his “posse” dressed in a thin disguise, of a war-torn, raggedy flag of democracy and capitalism.

[aquart]

1. Don't say, "we," kimosabe. I never went along with it. Never.

There was not one second when I was fooled by a single thing Bush did. Not one. I'm not a genius. It was EASY to see thru that insincere rhetoric. EASY.

And I live in lower Manhattan. I still stop dead at the sound of even a helicopter overhead. I damn near had hysterics when that idiot Yankee went into a building. The fear is never that far away.

But it never made me want to invade another country.

Yeah, I should be all welcoming that the prodigals have returned. But those bastards have already eaten every fatted calf in town.

I guess I'm just not in the mood.