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.

Comments

[TakeTheCanolis]

Wonderful article. I continue to have the same feeling of living in an occupied territory. Ronald Reagan was wrong. Government isn't the problem. Government under Republicans is the problem.

I have to take issue with the poor grammar used in this article. After all, we don't need teenagers learning Hallman's bad grammar for school and work. He frequently uses "it's" in the possessive case, as in "the concerns of it's populace" [first paragraph]. "It's" is a contraction of "it is." If you substitute "it is" for "its" you end up with many sentences that don't make sense.

Keep writing, John. But use a spellchecker.

[LeftCoastLarry]

Unfortunately, spellchecker wouldn't have caught it. A grammar checker, maybe. :-)

[matthewhusseinsmith]

Bush doesn't get it; considering what happened to America in America, in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bin Laden won the war. "You lost.", James Coburn, The Magnificent Seven.

[RRG64]

Since 9/11 Bush and Co have used PSYOPS against the very American people they were supposed to protect.

I have no sympathy for them.

[ritgar]

The Bush-buddy pardons have begun - 14 pardons & 2 prison sentences commuted. They should be first in line to go to jail themselves.

[hollybork]

Excellent article. The analogy to being occupied by a foreign power is apt. It is also like someone fighting cancer, going through the pain and fear of treatment, only to get a clean bill of health.

In other words, we will not be the same after this. Nor will we take for granted the marvel of now having a truly democratically elected President who is going to be looking out for us, first, last and always. What a contrast to the last 8 years of pirate leaders, bought and paid for by multi national corporations and narrow special interests, who systematically looted the treasury, deregulated the economy into a tailspin, launched pre emptive and immoral war to secure natural resources, and stripped away our moral integrity in the eyes of the world.

[ChurchofOne]

Let us hope that the middle class will not have been completed crushed by January 20th. Because that is surely the goal.

[hollybork]

No, they cannot crush us so easily. Every time Obama speaks about his economic plan, the market goes up. That is a good sign. I think things are about to get very much better. A green revolution is on the way. The american middle class will lead it. There will be millions of jobs. We can finance the green revolution with GREEN BONDS issued by the USA rather than through borrowings from China. I am very optimistic.

[LeftCoastLarry]

Wonderful article.

What amazes me is how so many people could still vote the Republican ticket in spite of what they have done to us. The Republicans now want to distance themselves from Bush as if they had nothing to do with what happened - it was all Bush! They want us to forget how they provided no oversight to these criminal activities for the first six years then threw up roadblocks whenever possible to block the razor thin democratic majority in the Senate with a cold vengeance.

And to add insult to injury, McCain wants us to believe that his dishonorable actions during the campaign were nothing more than the result of a hard fought campaign.

Bull . . . .

[Fremon]

That was McCain for you. Dishonorable candidate yet an honorable prisoner of war.

[jhamm1]

As much as I'd like to believe that, the problem with America is that it has been currently occupied by, well, Americans. And what the resurgence of ultra-right wing fanaticsm under W. has ultimately unearthed is that half of our population constitutes the perpetual equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan, Nazi Party, and Soviet Union combined.

As of now, I'm beginning to ponder whether members of our so-called "greatest generation" truly understood the evils of facism, or merely embodied our current trend of blind nationalism and thus merely benefitted frrom the dumb luck of winding up on the right side by incidence and nothing more.

The problem is far too many of us are too prone to right wing fanaticism that characterizes the soon-to-be-gone administriaon, and W. has truly been instrumental in awakening America's "inner scum", if you will, unearthing newfound expression that feels confident to proclaim that we would have won the Vietnam War if only we had resolved to "stay the course", McCarthy was right to brand any and every American citizen who does not support the actions of their government as "pink blooded communist traitors", or the General Douglas MacArthur should have retained his post, thus provoking genocide by saturating all of China and North Korea as a means of settling the Cold War in one fell swoop.

[Fremon]

I am glad you brought up the point about Americans being "prone to to right wing fanaticism".
I often found great interest in how many Americans liked John McCain as a potential president basically because he suffered as a prisoner of war. Witness the VFW that many times were in the background of his campaign speeches. That is the reason I won't join this group thought eligible. I think it may be the concept of our people being taken care of by the "leader". I could have used another synonym but it would engender to many bad feelings. I often wonder about the myth of America being "land of the free and home of the brave". When we basically succumbed to fears about Muslim fanaticism in electing Bush the second time despite the fact that he was greatly responsible for not responding to information about a potential 911 attack on America. We failed to elect former true medaled soldiers that proved their mettle in Vietnam to elect two military evaders in Bush and Cheney. Of course I speak of Kerrey and McClelland of Georgia who were besmirtched by the right wing nuts as either unpatriotic or consorting with Osama Bin Liden and worse yet accepted by the American public. Yeh, "we are the home of the brave".

[hollybork]

If Americans are prone to right wing fanaticism, as you say, then it is no different from the psychology of any other population. Human beings are capable of having their negative emotions, greed, resentment, envy and jealousy manipulated into a deadly fist of mob rule. We have seen it all through history. I am more concerned about a Tale of Two Cities type of lynch mob - against the bankers and financial engineers.

Look, we are as capable of becoming murdering nazis or lynching peasant mobs as any group of people in any country. Our moral superiority is a goal, not a reality, as the last 10 years has shown.
The funamental strength that prevents this is education of people as to their civic duties and the scope and promise of the constitution. They need to understand that the powers of the government be restrained under the perameters of the Constitution. It is equally essential that we have a free and open press. So, thank God for the Web, and thank God for the Constitution.

[GoogleMaster]

Maybe we should erect a Bush statue so that we can topple it like we toppled Saddam's statue when our troops "liberated" that poor country where everybody there wants us to get the W out.

[RRG64]

You know the American people who will be liberated on Jan 20, 2009 from the GWB Presidency deserve to ride "a Bush statue" through every town and city, on Prime time news in front of the entire world.

Some may call it disrespectful, however the American people will truly be liberated from not only a dictatorship but a stupid one at that.

[Leslib]

Thanks for expressing what I've been feeling. When I sat and watched the debacle that was our government's response to Katrina I could only think, "My God, he's trying to turn us into a third world country". The coverage of that terrible event shows the treatment of our fellow American citizens as represhens­ible...one you might expect to see in an undeveloped nation. I believe that showed the entire world that America has lost its credibility as the most powerful nation on the globe. That alone is sufficient evidence of our government's failings.

As I watched, dumbfounded, over the past 8 years I kept wondering why the democratic party seemed so incapable of countering what was going on in this administration. Who got killed to set an example for would happen if you rocked the boat? Who was made an example of that put such obvious fear in the democratic party that we couldn't stand up to king george? I just didn't get it. When former members of the Nixon administration write that Nixon was an open book compared to this administration, where is the outrage?

I, for one, am delighted to have my country back...or I feel it will have been restored as of the afternoon of 1/20/08 and I dearly hope that all those in Congress will put aside their petty bickering and power struggles to really work for the good of the entire nation and not just their constituents. Enough divisiveness. Enough already. ENOUGH.

[USAFree1]

If you read Milton Friedman, this is the blueprint. Remember Friedman was an advisor to Pinochet's Chile. The thriving middle class is a threat to the economic elites. According to them, we are an instability. "Oh those middle class people want rights, influence, and liberties just like we have. No, no, no." We were the victims of a coup d'etat in 2000. The neo-con foreign policy gerus and neo-liberal economic gerus took over. It's time to take our country back. Again.

[Leslib]

Good point. Thanks. I'll check out Friedman. Appreciate the tip...and may we never allow this to happen again!

[cityeyes]

The pledge taken by new citizens to renounce all foreign potentates (etc.) and swear unswerving loyalty to the US, should be taken by all members of the Administration. No high ranking inner circle member should have dual citizenship or dual loyalties.

[Info08]

For 8 years we all have been feeling abused by this administration, but NOW we all have this feeling that we're being raped in the last days of the Bush Presidency and there doesn't seem to be a damned thing any of us can do about it.

We can't ever do this again, the Presidency is an office of tremendous power and influence and I don't think the electorate took the office seriously enough in the 2000 election. The Clinton years spoiled us into thinking that all we needed was a figure head in Washington and the rest would take care of itself.

I don't think the electorate will ever have that kind of trust or blind faith in the Presidency again.

[OctoberSkies]

Simply put--we've been robbed by the Republicans!

[robertogt]

We are being occupied. Every one knows who it is but is afraid to speak. It's first official task was to establish the Federal Reserve 95yrs ago. For further details consult AIPAC. You do the math.

[hnealehcn]

Very true.

[UberReaganite]

The truth is in the title of the article. Im not sure but I think that 85% or more of American households have less than $80K income. The people that represent us in Congress and the white house all make MUCH more than that and there lies the disparity. People in different income brackets have different priorities and different agendas. The people that have the most should be working to help those that have far less. Not welfare give-aways but by providing infrastructure and services that benefit ALL working people. Thats all. I cant see how things like medical care, transportation, elderly care, prices of goods, school costs, hosing prices etc have gotten better for lower income people. I can clearly see how the wealthy benefitted though.
And the result? Well our economy sucks. We need a rising tide not a wave of prosperity because a rising tide lifts ALL boats, not just the cruise ships.
Unlike many people I would gladly pay a bit more if I knew that my money would be spent wisely and responsibly for the benefit of ALL Americans. It would be nice if we could reduced debt based investment, irresponsible credit, and the national debt and deficit. If we could do those things EVERYONE would benefit for a very long time and until we do those things we are just writing checks our Grandkids will have to pay. We need to change....­.

[ChrisInTennessee]

To those of you truly concerned that the lawless wonders in DC will get away with all their crimes, go to the following website and sign a petition to support a bill that will not allow the "current occupant" to pardon all his crooked friends!

http://www.democrats.com/nadler-pardons

[Devver]

He can't pardon them if they're not accused of anything. I just hope in my heart that Ms. Pelosi is biding her time for the inaugrination. Once Obama takes over, the subpoenas should fly so thickly they block out the sun!!!!!

[sushi27]

Unfortunately, Bush CAN pardon anyone for anything they did within a certain time frame, even if they have not been charged yet. The only if-ee one is - can he pardon himself.