Why America Feels Like it's Been Ruled by a Foreign Occupier
As Obama takes over the wreckage this country is in, one can't help but feel like something alien to America has been controlling it these past eight years. The wave of emotion that has erupted with the election of Barack Obama reminds me of the Allied victory in France in WWII. After a long foreign occupation in which foreign German interests occupied the agenda of France, French governance would once again be representing the concerns of it's populace. That hope seems to pervade America after it's long neocons occupation. Here are a few of the parallels that I see.
- American Public Opinion Has Been Ignored
Polling has consistently shown that the American government pursues an agenda far to the right of American public opinion. For the slight margin of victory that Bush had in both elections he won, the sweeping changes he pursued illuminate his disregard for the sizable chunk of our society that disagree with him.
When Dick Cheney was questioned on ABC about whether the fact that two thirds of Americans were opposed to the Iraq War had any influence on decision-making, he basically said that the American people get to make their input every four years and after that they can be ignored. The government is there to represent the people and now that it seems like that is returning; joy is understandable.
- Core American Values Overturned
America fought a revolution to have its opinions represented by it's government. That has faded in Bush's term. America set up the UN after World War II to set up international law and put an end to military aggression and imperialism. That went out the window. Habeas Corpus was inherited from England where it originated in the 12th Century. Bush in that sense has embraced the morals of the middle ages. Along that line, America reinstituted the use of torture. England discontinued its use in the 1600's Frederick the Great ended it in Prussia in 1740, Italy in 1786, France in 1789, and Russia in 1801. Besides moral reasons, the practice was written off as ineffective in terms of yielding useful information. This administrations moral conduct is clearly alien to the values of most Americans.
- Basic Infrastructure Neglected
Bridges, roads, and environmental standards have degraded these past eight years. What could be of more interest to a population than the upkeep of these vital elements of society? Clearly the vital interests of the population did not matter. You would have to be completely foreign to what America is not to see it, as basic infrastructure degraded tremendously in Bush's tenure.
- National Resources Diverted Overseas
If you study any foreign occupation, one common thread would be that national wealth would be diverted into foreign lands. While American healthcare, education, and infrastructure languished, we dumped billions of dollars into Iraq and pursued an otherwise aggressive and destructive foreign policy across the world at large at tremendous cost.
On top of that, national debt doubled the past eight years. It's like America lost a war, suffered an occupation and had to pay a 5 trillion dollar indemnity. We're in a similar position to France in 1870 or Germany in 1919 in that our common interests have been ignored, we've pursued an aggressive foreign policy to our own detriment and we are now deeply in debt.
- Propaganda Tuned Up
Bush took the stance of a foreign occupier in his governance- rational argument would never win the minds and hearts of the masses so crude propaganda such as Fox News was trotted out to scare and paralyze America into obedience. The same quest for obedience through misinformation and crude scare tactics are the same you see in the totalitarian governments from South America to Asia that have brought nothing but misery to their own people and the world at large.
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America has been in the hands of foreign overlords, and before you pat yourselves on the back, get used to the fact we are still under their control. International Corporations and the super rich own our media and our congressmen and senators.
We need comprehensive election reform in the first hundred days. We need to limit donations to congressmen to money from that state. We need to shut down the 501s and 527s that have no limit and no accounting of contributions. We need everyone to pressure our leaders to run fair elections and run honest ads. We have had enough of Corporations, the rich and lobbyists running our country into the ground. It is unsafe to have foreign interests manipulating our news and clouding voter decisions.
We need election reform and we need it now.
Sadly, the 'Foreign Occupiers' will all get off scot-free.
DICTATORSHIP!!!!!!
Great article to the point and exactly as many of us view the last 8 year of the Bush/Cheney expierence.
Any relief from the disaster of the Bush Administration, however far Left it goes or doesn't go, is tantamount to liberation of the American people. The rest of the civilized world understands this better, apparently, than some of our own citizens. But it is highly significant that there has been a run on American flags in the U.S. since the election. As a symbol of our country as a totality, it has constituted a disgrace for many of us. It has finally been redeemed and can stand for the true values on which our government was founded -- which do NOT include Christianity as such, by the way.
The political establishment has failed us, putting ideology ahead of the greater well-being of the American people.
As we sink deeper into a fiscal and psychological depression, sameness is now different. We have been abandoned, left on the proverbial doorstep. We are lost in a familiar place.
The financial crisis is every bit a psychological crisis, in our institutions, our government, our leaders and ourselves. We have given up emotionally on those we rightfully expected to look after us. No wonder the markets seem to be in a free fall, after all, we are in a massive emotional free fall.
Our institutions look the same, they are not. The mall is still standing and vacant. The many vulnerable among us are in despair. Our current leaders, demonstrate a pathological narcissism, caught in the myth of their righteousness, are grotesque caricatures of what leadership ought to be.
And now, we hang our fragile emotional hopes on one man representing the good-enough parent to a population of his children. Hopes riding on a new set of leaders.He will fail and so will we if we don't hold one another accountable. We will fail if he and we do not successfully navigate the treacherous psychological waters of re-establishing a new trust in this fragile time. President Elect Obama has suggested that we rise and fall as one people. He is right. Let us hope we look beyond our projected expectations of one man and administration.
Finally someone has named my pain. Couldn't agree more with the article.
All that I had to do was to read the headline. I agree completely! I feel as though our country has been ruled by a foreign occupier..
The Obama team to the rescue! (Help can't arrive soon enough.)
No wonder I feel shell-shocked.
Jan 20th needs to come sooner!!! This is the biggest crap since Reagan/Nix
Thank you, your arguments are put very well.
This is a very good analogy. I have been saying for many, many years -- since the Reagan era -- that the republican party is an anti-American party. Now, I don't want to be confused with Ms. Bachman of Minnesota, nor with the McCarthy era thugs and all. When I say that, I mean to push back against the very, very common rightie claim that the left is a "blame America first" bunch, or that it is anti-American, or that it is un-patriotic, etc.
On the right, they demonize people - gays, youth, blacks, Hispanics, the poor, ACORN, Obamazoids, etc. Whenever they can, they demonize. In addition to dividing the people, they are opposed to projects that improve the lot of the people -- public schools, public pensions, parks, roads and bridges, taxes, welfare, medicare, etc. They foment hatred of government -- yet this nation is defined by its form of government.
We have the feeling we have been occupied by a foreign power because we have been governed by the most zealous wing of an anti-American party.
Excellent analogy.
It's been as, if not more, damaging than a foreign occupation. The key is to try to think positive. We need to move forward, and restart the millenium. Above all, we need to suppress any future coups in the form of a Palin, or another bush, or any other reckless, dangerous lunatic from the right.
I think you are right to use the word coup. Our electoral process is messy and can go to extremes, but there is a limit as to what can be considered fair political fighting. The two examples of over the line politics seem to me to be:
1. JFK's political assassination and coverup which marked the begining of a period of "death squad" politics that destroyed the New Left progressive movement of the 60's.
2. The Bush v. Gore Ruling that effectively stopped a soverign state from dealing with wholesale voter intimidation and vote fraud in a move to overthrow the results of a legal national election.
These events reveal the American way of extreme politics.
Bush got exactly what he wanted. He knew he was not smart enough or good enough to fill a prominent place in history as one of the greatest presidents, no, he wanted to go down in history infamously. He got what he wanted. He will be forever studied by generations of history buffs. They will study Hitler, Stalin, Ghenghis Khan and Bush. His place in history is secure - and that is what he always wanted.
W.Bush has many flaws and dangerous ones at that. This is a man that is an egotists and narscicists
he has an typical country club fortunate son mentality that is oblivious to real concerns of the American people and the future of this country. Life is always been good for him and his ilk has never known struggle and hardship, and does not give a damn about those who experience hardship through no fault of their own. His concerns only exist in the small sphere of the rich and powerful.
To W.Bush the presidency was about prestige and grandeur specific to the bubble of an American life that he exist in. The presidency to W.Bush was not about the high responsibility and critical thinking required an American president. For him it was ego and self aggrandizement in the guise of his faith in GOD and Jesus. This man will takes no responsibility for the wreckage he has left behind, and regrets little or nothing during his administration. In the end he and his ilk will be rich and free. One can only hope that bad Karma does a number on W.Bush in his post presidential life
There's a reason everyone refered to Bush as "The Arabian Candidate".
Everything he did, he did for Saudi Arabia.
Everyone? Never heard it before...
I think you're confusing Bush with FEMA Director "Heckuva Job Brownie" the Arabian Horse candidate.
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