I'm Sad

I'm sad.

I normally do an As We See It post on Fridays. Mocking the stupid and insulting the insane usually gives me a little pick-me-up. Today, I feel too tired and sad to think of anything even remotely funny.

I'm usually pretty laid back. I like people to hold opinions and defend them as they see fit. A born cynic, I ofttimes think those opinions are stupid, but that's not the point, I still try to give them a fair hearing. My attitude is that if an idea is stupid it will be apparent, just like good ideas stand on their own.

I may be wrong.

These days I find myself overwhelmed by truly awful ideas. They've crossed the border between merely bad and ill conceived to dangerous and catastrophic. Each day brings a new injury to our country. Each day people are called traitors, the flags come out like poppies on a Flanders field, and Chicken Little runs around shouting, "9/11! 9/11!". And just as surely, a complacent public says, "Ehhh, it doesn't directly affect me, so what do I care."

I'm sad.

I'm sad that people have lost sight of the very things that used to make our country unique. While the US was never completely innocent, there used to be a certain respect for us. When we spoke, the world listened. When we took moral stances on human rights, or leading the global community, or helping our neighbors in the world, people knew they could count on us to do the right thing in the end. We had gravitas and respect.

We no longer do.

I'm sad that people have lost sight of what's important inside the country too. We used to be a nation that held people responsible and where the Constitution was a sacred object given great deference and fervent respect. We used to refer to ourselves as a melting pot, now the pot has melted. Now, freedom has come to mean fear. Freedom is no longer truly free. Cravenly absurd leaders who spy on us and call it freedom hold it at bay. They preach about a society of laws and then willfully break them. They convince us that right is wrong and wrong is right. They speak of equality while they do everything in their power to deconstruct that ideal.

I'm sad.

I'm sad we've used a fear of terror to terrorize ourselves. Despite all the bellicose words and flag-waving jingoism, we've reduced ourselves to a nation of frightened, tiny people who toss away their freedoms like an old pair of socks in the hopes no one will hurt them. We've transformed ourselves into the very society we were founded to propagate. We're now a nation where freedoms disappear and the only response is a yawn. We're a country where laws no longer mean anything. It's not our President or his corrupt friends that are tearing up the Constitution like so much old toilet paper. It's us doing it to ourselves.

I am sad.

I am tired.

I am willing to fight on.

Truth Told by Omnipotent Poobah, Friday, May 12, 2006