Here's a stunning comment posted on my blog yesterday: "I proudly voted for Bush twice and would do so again, knowing all his faults if he had the same opponents."
What can we make of a statement like that? By the way, this is from a fundamentalist Christian woman. She is not alone in this thought: another frequent visitor to my blog, another fundamentalist Christian woman has said the same thing on two different occasions. They would both vote for Bush/Cheney a 3rd time.
I frequently use the term, 'dumbed-down voters' in my postings. It refers to people who know little about the American system of government. It refers to people who do not pay attention to the issues and problems of our nation. It refers to blind allegiance to a single issue or a single party. Dumbed-down and seemingly content.
Dictators and other scoundrels love these people; so did Bush and Cheney. They knew that, no matter what they actually did, there would always be a loyal knot of people who would mindlessly cheer them on. And so they did through 8 full years. No matter what they did.
There are numerous examples throughout history of masses of people supporting dastardly dictators and other scoundrels. Mao, Stalin, Amin, Franco and Hitler come to mind. On this side of the Prime Meridian there were Somoza, Rios Mont, Stroessner, Alvarez, Noriega, Pinochet and Batista. By the way, this last set were all supported by our government.
Yet, we Americans ought to be a step above this lot. After all, we've been a Constitution-led democracy for 220 years. We've had practice learning to distinguish good from poor leader, king from elected president. Some Americans are slow learners. They didn't pay attention to civics class in high school.
Others are easily duped, easily bamboozled. Brainwashed, if you will. They do not embrace all of the tenets of the Constitution; they find some that irritate them. Others wish to add to that document new rules, new laws that suit a particular mindset, a specific constituency of people. It brings to mind that silly GOP-sponsored bill in the GOP controlled Congress written for one single American, Terri Schaivo. Stupidity run amok.
Thus we have them. Self-centered people who wish that this entire nation be just like them. Pick and choose Constitution.
What they have failed read is the Preamble of the Constitution. 'We the People." Not 'our group.' Not 'we Democrats.' Not 'we Christians.'
Then there is that powerful middle statement: "to promote the general Welfare." All of us, together: the whole lot. Not one interest group. Not one faith. Not one political party. Not 'my agenda.'
GOP candidate Ron Paul was often openly ridiculed during the debates for his strong defense of the Constitution and his true, grass-roots conservative values. He was laughed-at. Dismissed as irrelevant. A nuisance for the Party. In fact, the two women I spoke about earlier derided him as not a 'true' Republican. Apparently they believe that the 'model' Republican can be seen in George Bush and Dick Cheney.
Sadly, they vote and in large numbers. The rest of us have a duty to our country: to instruct the rest of the citizenry on how to choose a leader for this nation. We could easily hold up Bush and Cheney as who NOT to elect; negative examples often work well. Yet, the other task is to get those 'others' to the polls. As I pointed out in an earlier post, black voters in Toledo showed up in much lower numbers in the Primary than white voters. 'Get out the vote' ought to be the rallying cry; Bush and Cheney the motivational placard.
What can we make of a statement like that? By the way, this is from a fundamentalist Christian woman. She is not alone in this thought: another frequent visitor to my blog, another fundamentalist Christian woman has said the same thing on two different occasions. They would both vote for Bush/Cheney a 3rd time.
I frequently use the term, 'dumbed-down voters' in my postings. It refers to people who know little about the American system of government. It refers to people who do not pay attention to the issues and problems of our nation. It refers to blind allegiance to a single issue or a single party. Dumbed-down and seemingly content.
Dictators and other scoundrels love these people; so did Bush and Cheney. They knew that, no matter what they actually did, there would always be a loyal knot of people who would mindlessly cheer them on. And so they did through 8 full years. No matter what they did.
There are numerous examples throughout history of masses of people supporting dastardly dictators and other scoundrels. Mao, Stalin, Amin, Franco and Hitler come to mind. On this side of the Prime Meridian there were Somoza, Rios Mont, Stroessner, Alvarez, Noriega, Pinochet and Batista. By the way, this last set were all supported by our government.
Yet, we Americans ought to be a step above this lot. After all, we've been a Constitution-led democracy for 220 years. We've had practice learning to distinguish good from poor leader, king from elected president. Some Americans are slow learners. They didn't pay attention to civics class in high school.
Others are easily duped, easily bamboozled. Brainwashed, if you will. They do not embrace all of the tenets of the Constitution; they find some that irritate them. Others wish to add to that document new rules, new laws that suit a particular mindset, a specific constituency of people. It brings to mind that silly GOP-sponsored bill in the GOP controlled Congress written for one single American, Terri Schaivo. Stupidity run amok.
Thus we have them. Self-centered people who wish that this entire nation be just like them. Pick and choose Constitution.
What they have failed read is the Preamble of the Constitution. 'We the People." Not 'our group.' Not 'we Democrats.' Not 'we Christians.'
Then there is that powerful middle statement: "to promote the general Welfare." All of us, together: the whole lot. Not one interest group. Not one faith. Not one political party. Not 'my agenda.'
GOP candidate Ron Paul was often openly ridiculed during the debates for his strong defense of the Constitution and his true, grass-roots conservative values. He was laughed-at. Dismissed as irrelevant. A nuisance for the Party. In fact, the two women I spoke about earlier derided him as not a 'true' Republican. Apparently they believe that the 'model' Republican can be seen in George Bush and Dick Cheney.
Sadly, they vote and in large numbers. The rest of us have a duty to our country: to instruct the rest of the citizenry on how to choose a leader for this nation. We could easily hold up Bush and Cheney as who NOT to elect; negative examples often work well. Yet, the other task is to get those 'others' to the polls. As I pointed out in an earlier post, black voters in Toledo showed up in much lower numbers in the Primary than white voters. 'Get out the vote' ought to be the rallying cry; Bush and Cheney the motivational placard.
