I No Longer Believe...
Sully is linking to and posting some thoughts by bloggers in what they no longer believe after 5 years of war in Iraq.
I don't come from the hard conservative mold that these writers seem to have started in prior to the war, but I was definitely transitioning into a more traditional liberal at the beginning of the Bush administration. I found it an interesting exerice.
So, I no longer believe:
1. Conservatives want limited, localized government. The ulitmate in naivete! They want a govenrment with just as much or more power as the "tax-and-spend liberals". They just want it to enforce their ideology.
2. Republicans believed in the integrity and independence of the criminal justice system. I have some hope that on some level this is still true. But this administration has proven that it and its enablers in Congress see the Justice Department and law enforcement as a tool to be used to maintain political power.
3. The so called main stream media did have a liberal bent but would ask the hard questions and challenge the fasle statements of politicians of all stripes. Instead it has become clear that the beltway media is most interested in cozying up to the powerful and the rest are too lazy, too overstretched, or too ill informed to challenge those in power. In my mind this is ultimately what lead us to war in Iraq. As the administration brazenly equated Saddam and the September 11 terrorist attacks and claimed a war in Iraq would be revenge the media did little to challenge it.
4. That checks and balances in the federal government can do just that, check the abuses of government. I just didn't understand how weak these checks and balances truely are. I didn't know that they were so reliant on tradition and not enforcable through rule of law. Between the Executive Branch just flat out ignoring the Congress and Goppers in Congress undercutting all over sight in deference to The Dear Leader the system is shown to be severely flawed and very weak.
On the other side of the equation are a few beliefs/fears that I have had confirmed since the start of the Iraq War and the so called war on terror.
1. Christian conservatives want a theocracy to enforce their religious dogma on everyone in the country.
2. Goppers, especially their leaders walk hand-in-hand with a small, elite group of the very rich. They engineer government policy to redistribute wealth up to the already wealthy.
3. Conservatives believe, "might makes right."
4. Conservatives believe the ends justify the means.
I don't come from the hard conservative mold that these writers seem to have started in prior to the war, but I was definitely transitioning into a more traditional liberal at the beginning of the Bush administration. I found it an interesting exerice.
So, I no longer believe:
1. Conservatives want limited, localized government. The ulitmate in naivete! They want a govenrment with just as much or more power as the "tax-and-spend liberals". They just want it to enforce their ideology.
2. Republicans believed in the integrity and independence of the criminal justice system. I have some hope that on some level this is still true. But this administration has proven that it and its enablers in Congress see the Justice Department and law enforcement as a tool to be used to maintain political power.
3. The so called main stream media did have a liberal bent but would ask the hard questions and challenge the fasle statements of politicians of all stripes. Instead it has become clear that the beltway media is most interested in cozying up to the powerful and the rest are too lazy, too overstretched, or too ill informed to challenge those in power. In my mind this is ultimately what lead us to war in Iraq. As the administration brazenly equated Saddam and the September 11 terrorist attacks and claimed a war in Iraq would be revenge the media did little to challenge it.
4. That checks and balances in the federal government can do just that, check the abuses of government. I just didn't understand how weak these checks and balances truely are. I didn't know that they were so reliant on tradition and not enforcable through rule of law. Between the Executive Branch just flat out ignoring the Congress and Goppers in Congress undercutting all over sight in deference to The Dear Leader the system is shown to be severely flawed and very weak.
On the other side of the equation are a few beliefs/fears that I have had confirmed since the start of the Iraq War and the so called war on terror.
1. Christian conservatives want a theocracy to enforce their religious dogma on everyone in the country.
2. Goppers, especially their leaders walk hand-in-hand with a small, elite group of the very rich. They engineer government policy to redistribute wealth up to the already wealthy.
3. Conservatives believe, "might makes right."
4. Conservatives believe the ends justify the means.
Labels: Iraq
posted by LP Cards Fan at
2:29 PM
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