We have imported, to my exasperation,
the trinity threats of IS,Taliban and insurgency into a great part of
our Congress.
Of course, being honorable people, we
do not use guns, explosives and swords to cut off heads. We use the
more genteel weapon of bullying.
Schools all across this country are
horrified when children suffer under bullying tactics and attempt to
come up with deterrents and rules curtailing and punishing such
behaviors.
Not so the Congressional members. They
elevated their bullying to such levels that the “slogan” loving
public adopted these tactics, chewing them up voraciously and
regurgitating them without any personal thought processes. Less is
even their knowledge of background or history which apply to facts.
For instance – with relish the public and their congressional
'guides' talk of our President as weak. Yet, no one remembers that
on the day of his initial election in 2008, before he ever set foot
into the White House and did his first official job, Republicans
promised they would vote against anything the President would present
to Congress. It takes enormous strength for any person to persevere
under such conditions for two terms. Weak – no.
Another slogan repeated by the same
crowd: The foreign world has no respect for him.
Yet these same people do not even know
the man on the street in other countries. They don't talk to
foreigners, don't read foreign press. They don't even know that those
people often are more informed about this country's politics than the
American citizens. There is no lack of respect for our President, but
there is for our Congress. I have been asked the question, why do we
tolerate such behavior. My answer is because the people are so
gullible they allow leaders to do the thinking for them.
These foreigners are as frustrated as I
am about the difficulties we present toward fighting a common foe
outside our borders, and at bringing about more cohesion world-wide.
Another example of our public blindness
and the majority in Congress avoiding facts: Blaming our President
on the present state of affairs in Iraq, Afghanistan and in part of
Africa – power of the Taliban, IS, insurgencies.
These people forget that the US was the
aggressor nation when we attacked Iraq and for years ignored to fight
a real fight in Afghanistan, a justified war. They forgot that during
that interval the Taliban had time to regroup itself and, in
addition, to study and learn the value of suicide bombings, which the
factions in Iraq, once they had a more 'benign' government, built up
into a successful business.
And the sparsity of world history in
this country did not let Americans grasp the fact that the Islamic
world never has and still does not want to adopt western type rules,
governments and customs. And that the individual citizen on the
street has very little input, as the interpretation of their
religious culture provides for their submission.
As to ending of the war and removal of
our troops, Americans forget, so does Congress, that this is what the
citizens wanted at the time of the President's election in 2008.
They were tired of the money spent on the wars and the loss of lives.
So, how can they fault the President now for doing just that.
President Obama was a man who wanted
peace and diplomacy as working tools, not lashing out and slaying the
dragon at first sight. Yes, peacefulness does appear as weakness, but
yet it is a greater strength than warmongering. But it does take
time. Also, in America's case, we are paying now for having broken
our benign reputation as a peaceful and respectful country by having
crossed the threshold of peace to an unprovoked war and put ourselves
on the same level as those groups we now battle.
Forgotten is the history that President
Obama was handed, the most rotten situation, as well as a
Congress whose ego still hurt from the 2008 political trouncing, and
thus became another enemy within our own borders the President had to
contend with.
It is sad to see that greed for power,
self-importance and money, as well as ugliness in expression, have
become the idols of this country. It is no longer the land that I
first saw and admired in the 1950s, the country that was a fair and
honorable winner in WWII and that I respected to the utmost.
Some years have past and some administrations too. And today, in 2019, we have a split country because of the political situation.
Our president, Donald Trump, is not the fittest person to rule a country. Lacks much of the knowledge economically, financially, geographically, lacks world economic understanding as to trade and needs of not only the US but other countries, and he is an isolationist, wanting the US to only look at herself and do what is advantageous for the US, regardless of world ramifications. He is often vulgar, very outspoken, speaking the language of the people of the street, which makes him appealing to all his supporters, as he seems to be one of them. He rules on the spur of the moment. Whatever comes into his mind he will say and often do, even though utterly inappropriate. The worst part is, he may be re-elected for a second term, because his supporters, even though slightly in the minority, but because of the US system of elections, not by popular count, he simply has to focus on those states that have the most electors, and that will bring a win. Our electorial system leaves much to be desired, since it leaves chosen electors in each state for the most part free to vote as they wish, not as the majority of the State's population wishes. So it is not an effective popular vote for a president in the US.
This country also is usurped by murder and mayhem, having become increasingly worse year by year. It is not the US that I knew from the early 50s. The Book "The Ugly American" published decades ago, now not only applies to a few individuals, who present a snobbish picture of the US to the rest of the world, it has become literally a true title for the US today. And the voices of those who want to bring about a good change, are being outshouted by "The Ugly American".
The Beauty of the land. Let us learn from it.
