Monday, January 17, 2005

The War Reconsidered

Okay, we have this Republican U.S. President elected by a minority of the popular vote (39.9%, vs. 47.6% for the Democrats). He is generally considered to be pretty thick. His opponents engage in hyperbole about how he will pander to religious extremists, and go so far as to say they will leave the country if he is elected. He presides over an unprecedented destruction of civil liberties in the U.S. while engaging in a war of dubious legality, primarily to demonstrate that the U.S. is a big tough country that won't be pushed around. This war is cloaked in all kinds of extravagant rhetoric about freedom and wholesome American values, naturally. Millions of people die. And for all that they put him on the five dollar bill...

2 comments:

Marco Parigi said...

I like Australia's history better, where the Eureka stockade can count as our civil war. History usually sides with the victors, with the possible exception of Australia's losses

Jenny said...

Yup, possibly the only country in the world whose citizens celebrate and remember the battles they lose as being character defining moments.