The sad state of the union 2006

Anyone who attends to the mass media or politics on the internet is aware of the intense polarization in our society. Typically characterized in the oversimplistic language of red states versus blue, left versus right, liberal versus conservative, Democratic versus Republican, the polarization is real and pervasive. Other than eradication of the opposition, the way to reconciliation must begin with the fundamental common ground of respect for truth and a willingness to deal honestly with reality rather than insistence on some partisan fantasy version of reality. This is why I am so pessimistic.

This is why I must unfortunately conclude no reconciliation is on our horizon: the people with power and their followers, the people who call themselves "conservatives," no longer value truth; they prefer to live in the fantastic, self-congratulatory world of delusions and lies crafted by their dear leaders Bush, Rove, Cheney, Fox News, etc. In other words, the problem with our society, as I see it, the reason we are speeding toward a disastrous, authoritarian, third world future, is the conservatives, the people who think Rush Limbaugh talks some sense, would vote for Bush even given what we know now, and purport to "support the troops" by putting magnets on their Arabia-dependent SUVs and backing the power-mad leaders who send our military people into an incompetently-planned imperialist war justified with lies and the spread of fear.

Conservatives used to oppose big government, but apparently out of a rather pathetic fear of attack, today's conservatives have no problem with the dear leaders making the government both more secretive and more powerful. This is the truth: George Bush has declared that if he says there's a war, as commander in chief of the armed forces, he can do anything he wants, even if Congress has passed a law specifically saying he can't, and even if it violates the Constitution he swore to uphold. This is what the domestic wiretap scandal is about: to spy on citizens without a warrant from a judge is against the law, and, worse, directly violates the Bill of Rights, the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.

I wonder how many conservatives have taken time to read the Constitution recently, particularly Article 2 describing the powers of the presidency. If any have, they know Bush's neo-emperor view of the presidency is nowhere in there. That's why the only people who believe in it are the people obsessed with power, like Cheney and Rove, yes-men like Alberto Gonzalez, and authoritarians like Samuel Alito. This is not a partisan issue. Sensible Republicans who believe in the Constitution rather than absolute power are opposed to the warrantless spying "program" and Bush's assertions he can do whatever he wants because this is "war." This is the truth: Bush's radical power-grab runs directly contrary to the relatively decentralized, checks and balances system written into our Constitution. George Bush is trying to change America in ways no one should support. Anyone who looks at the last few years objectively must see that the dear leaders govern through bullying, fear, and tricky, obscurantist declarations that used to be called lies. Centralized power, secrecy, fear, lies – these are the hallmarks of authoritarianism occurring in our lifetime, right before our eyes, but somehow a significant percentage of the population – they call themselves conservatives – is all for it. Until the conservatives come back to reality where honesty is valued and lies are scorned, my message to them is this: don't tread on me (see U.S. Const., Amendment 2).