YOU–WHO VOTED FOR BUSH…

WHO ARE YOU?

You’re the Wrong,
the Guilty, and
the Damned!

By Robert Healy*

You were wrong.  You, who’ve supported George Bush.  You, who’ve advocated war with Iraq.  You, who’ve continued to ignore the perilous fact that our constitutional laws and separation of powers have been broken.  You, whose arrogance is displayed through your pro-Bush stickers on your vehicles.  I’m talking to you.  You were wrong.  And you still are.

We the People of the United States of America are guilty.  We are guilty of crimes against humanity for the wanton mass slaughter of innocent fellow human beings.  We are guilty of war crimes.  We are guilty of abusing our military service-members for the sole purpose of enhancing corporate profits.  We are guilty of torture and harboring torturers, and guilty of passing immoral laws that retroactively protect torturers, and those who gave the orders, from prosecution for their crimes.  Habeas corpus is dead.  We are guilty.

Do not invoke 9/11 or terrorism as an excuse.  There is no excuse.  Neither our collective arrogance nor collective ignorance will shield us.  It matters not whether we as individuals supported the war or marched in opposition to it.  We invaded, and we were wrong in doing so.  We all bear the blame and the guilt.  Our hands are covered in blood, and no amount of hand-wringing will ever cleanse them.  Not ever.

We have become a nation of bullies and cowards.  Real patriots – those who dared to bring reason, compassion, understanding, or true leadership to the equation – were trounced, pummeled, ridiculed, and vilified by each.  That trend continues to this day.

The bullies are in control, supported by their zombie-like adherents, all utterly intoxicated with their own false-godlike sense of power.  All of them are corrupt to their very souls.  They believe might is right.  They have corroded not only our national political core, but also America’s spirit of unity, brotherhood, and hope.  Every word is an attack, every deed divisive.  Every law passed during their reign has been to the detriment of the citizen and to the benefit of corporations and the rich.  The bullies will fall like all bullies eventually do – only these bullies will be taking America down with them.

The cowards are the failed majority, the ones who’ve abdicated their power, disoriented by their continued ingestion of fear.  They fear the bullies, each other, and themselves.  All of them are frightened to their very souls.  From the spineless clergymen in the pulpits through our weak-kneed military officers and our equally ineffective elected officials, to the majority of Americans in between, the cowardice and lack of heartfelt outrage shouts volumes across the land and around the world.  For in their silence they were complicit in the crimes, and in their continued silence, they are accessories after the fact.

In America, evil has taken root and prospered because of a raging case of collective moral impotence.  As Frank Herbert famously wrote, “Fear is the mind-killer.”  Well, fear is a nation-killer as well.

Do unto others as you’d have done unto you.  Love your neighbor.  Love your enemy.  But, no.  We wanted an eye for an eye, America.  We took it, and we were wrong.  Well, we’d better prepare ourselves.  Yes, we will surely reap from what we’ve sown.  You bully.  You coward.  Live by the sword, die by the sword.  A so-called “Christian nation” should’ve known that.  But the damage is done.  Tens upon tens of thousands are dead.  And for what?  Vanity?  The dead are still dead.  And we’ll be damned for it.

And so, Mr. Republican, Mr. Democrat, Mr. Unaffiliated: it’s election time.  Need a suggestion?  To paraphrase Dick Cheney: go vote yourself.

About Robert Healy:

Robert Healy is a political columnist currently living in North Carolina.  He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BA in English, and is a veteran of the U.S. Army.

Although Healy wrote this article, the caption (title) was edited (re-written) by our DW editor, Dusty Schoch.  Robert Healy had used the pronoun “we” in his caption, and we (at DW)  know full well that anyone with sufficient intelligence to have authored the foregoing essay, on his dumbest day could not have been conned into voting for GWB.

This article was previously published in (and copyrighted by) the High Point Enterprise on Saturday, October 28, 2006 and re-printed here with their kind permission.