Thursday, February 7, 2008

I Want a Better World for My Son




September 11th did not dunk me in the waters of fervent, drunken, irrational patriotism like so many of my countrymen and women. Instead, it awoke me. And I awoke frightened. Frightened because I realized that the world really had changed - America and its people would now have to face the same fears and challenges to safety and the future that the rest of the world had been facing for so long already.

Since, I have had a lot of trouble dealing with my country's response to that day. Much of it has been hasty at best and terribly wrong at worst. But we get the leaders we choose, I think, and while we were unlucky to have those we did on that September morning, we were fully aware of the choices available to us at the next election day. The results speak for themselves.

But I think sometimes we can be slow learners, us Americans. Not that we never learn, it just takes several solid blows to the head and the heart to make us change direction. And now a new direction has presented itself, come up from this time of change, and I for one fully intend to support this new direction and do all I can to see it come about, to see the birth of a new American century. A century of progress and freedom and real democracy for all the people of the world, the kind of century I want my son to have, that I want all our children to have.

Thank you for your time.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

10 comments:

Mickey T said...

I want a better world also. I'm embarassed by Bush, but I'd never apologize for being American. The American ideal lives. The USA has many more positive aspects than negative. Regardless of the election outcome we'll all be better off.
Oh yeah, I dig yr music. I'm a big fan of Feelies, Blasters and Cope. Saw them all live back in the day and still listen to them.
Mickey T

gomonkeygo said...

Thanks for the comment, Mickey T - greatly appreciated. It's the good and the positive about America and being American that I want to show the world again. I think Obama can help us do that, if we work together and support him. Take care!

Gunboy 3 said...

Stick to music, and avoid politics because you don't know what you are talking about.
Did you know that Obama, our savior, wants to bomb Pakistan? Put down the bong and google the story. Senator Hussein also gave an interview in the Boston Globe in which he displayed a frightening ignorance of Presidential powers.
Bush is by no means perfect, but the two dodos he ran against...
Thanks for the music, especially the Thin White Rope, I do remember where I was when I first heard them. Too bad more folks haven't

gomonkeygo said...

I'm very glad you liked the music. But I'm sorry your mind is closed to the possibility of change in the American political system. This is, sadly, the attitude that got us our current President, twice. And has almost effectively destroyed our Constitution and the respect the world once had for our political institutions. Publicly supporting Obama, I've found, draws the racist or at best bigoted ire of many on the Right. Such is obvious in your comment and the typical way in which you resort to the Right's tactic of name-calling and smearing to browbeat opponents. But at least we can still debate such things. Four more years of Bushian politics as run by McCain or someone even worse - Mike Huckabee - and we wouldn't be allowed to. The brownshirts would be pounding on our doors in the middle of the night if we did.

gomonkeygo said...

For the benefit of any other commentors, who may not be familiar with the misquoted story Mr. Gunboy mentions about Barack Obama and Pakistan, it was in August 2007 and here is what Reuters ran as it's header on the story: "Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said on Wednesday the United States must be willing to strike al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan..." I honestly don't understand how Mr. Gunboy has a problem with a Presidential candidate who wants to fight terrorism at its source. I must not be as smart as Mr. Gunboy.

Unknown said...

Here's to gunboy3:

GO USA!

Gunboy 3 said...

Explain how I demonstrated racism in my comment. You can't, so you have to invent it. I said he wanted to attack Pakistan, and that is true. I did not misquote him. If you are o.k. with attacking sovereign nations, then fine.
The nonsense about brownshirts pounding our doors is silly and sad. You say that the right engages in name-calling and then you go ahead and indulge in it yourself
You all keep worrying about fascism descending on America, when it keeps appearing in Europe.
Keep to music-posting,,,at least you do that well
Thanks Valis!

gomonkeygo said...

For me, this'll be the last time I debate this particular issue with Gunboy. And I wouldn't do it but the Left has a habit I despise, that of turning the other cheek when instead something should be faced head-on. So, here I go.

First, Gunboy exhibited one of the most commonly used tactics of the Right in their attacks on Senator (soon President) Obama: Using his middle name to create an image of Islamic terrorism in the reader's mind. This is, at best, bigoted and at worst racist. Since the 11th of September, 2001, America has created a new bogeyman for itself to fear - the dark-skinned Man From Islam, who's gonna skin us all alive in our beds and burn our babies and - gasp! - do nasty things with our women. But this isn't really a new bogeyman, is it? It's just a new skin on an old devil. I've heard decent people, people whom I've known for years, say horrible things about Moslems in the last few years that they would be disgusted to hear said about black Americans - though if one changes the decade and the terms of abuse, there is at heart no difference. I don't think this point needs belaboring any further except to say that Gunboy needn't be bigoted or racist himself - only that he is parroting the worst kind of political bigotry and hate in his comments. I'm going to assume that Gunboy is not himself a racist and I'm sorry if he mistook my comment for an assumption of such.
Secondly, I have thought on and I think I understand Gunboy's obsession with Pakistan. It's the Right's general obsession with the unreal at work. "[A]ttacking sovereign nations" is okay by the Right if the leader they support wants to do it, as Bush did to Afghanistan and then did again to Iraq. It's always only okay with the Right if THEY do it. It's never okay if anyone else suggests it or does it. Controlling reality is a central meme of the Right, which is why I've always tended (or veered) to the left/Left. Reality is a much looser and more flexible thing, I believe, and the attempt to control it can only end in disaster. Thus, Iraq.
There is something important going one here that needs to be addressed beyond this statement of Senator Obama's. And this is the idea that just because one generally supports a politician, it doesn't mean one unequivocally supports him or her. I've been pretty damn pissed at some of the things the Senator from Illinois has said and done. But I still see far more in what he says and does that I can respect. See - this is allowed on the Left! If you need a further example, I used to really respect and support John McCain (circa 2000 or so), even coming as I do from a land too far away for his Straight Talk Express to ever reach. Notice the past tense, please.
Regarding fascism. It's not just for Europe anymore, kids! It's a tired old hat-trick of the Right to say (usually in a condescending and superior fashion to let you, the listener, know how ignorant you really are) that: "Fascism is a European political construction specific only to a certain time and place and therefore one can never use that term to describe any existing American political situation." Okay, so we don't have European fascism - we got good old American fascism! Even better, right! Ours comes with wiretaps, secret prisons, spying corporations, treasonous Vice Presidents, imperial Presidents and torture. Can we get fries with that? And super-size it, please.

Gunboy 3 said...

People who disagree with you are "haters" aren't they? Typical leftist doggerel. Hey, congratulations on Daniel Ortega's approval of Obama. Fine company you guys keep. Just waiting for Hugo Chavez to weigh in. Your obsession with phantom "Fascism" prevents you from seeing the Communistic proclivities of the Left
I didn't realize I had an obsession with Pakistan, I only mentioned it to contrast it with the coalition attacks on a couple of nations which you didn't support. I would be concerned with Obama getting us into a quagmire. I think you would too.
Take care and keep your bong clean!

Unknown said...

Rather surprised gunboy3 even knows what a bong is. How could they possibly exist in his world, where the Republicans are keeping us all safe......now, stop bogarting that lollipop and let's stare at that rainbow some more, ok?