I like Ike

I recently (finally) saw the documentary Why We Fight (2005).

I feel as though my entire sense of who we are as a nation has been altered. And it’s not as though I’ve been burying my head in the sand. I’ve believed for years that the Bush Administration is corrupt; but I’ve also believed that, as a people, Americans are basically good. Now, having seen that film, I have to wonder. In a democracy, how can you separate the people from the government? The corruption isn’t about political party, it’s everywhere, and our government is not “them,” it’s us.

Even the Bush Administration is us. Oh god, the horror.

You can see why, having realized this, I’ve been a bit quiet the past few days.

Yes, I vote. Yes, I sign petitions. Yes, I occasionally e-mail my elected representatives in Washington. But what exactly is the point of all this? What can I do to put an end to the military-industrial(-congressional) complex that Eisenhower warned us about more than a decade before I was born?

Powerless is how I’m feeling today. And if I feel powerless, sitting in the richest nation on Earth, imagine how the people whose countries we’re bombing the hell out of feel.