Attention Democrats: Where is Our Shame?

By NanceGreggs


Never before in our history has the stubbornness of the Democratic voter been made more blatantly obvious than it has over the past seven years.

In the face of BushCo’s ability to rewrite history, spin every fallacy into accepted dogma, and drag our nation into the depths of despair, the ideology of the Democratic party has persisted in its stiff-necked refusal to embrace the liars and the lies, to support those who refuse to uphold the Constitution, to accept the empty promises that consistently foretell any number of successes regardless of the fact that they will never materialize.

Where is our shame when we criticize a president during a time of war? Why can we not simply ignore the fact that it is a war he created himself (“War on Terror” – patent pending), and proceed as though it were something legitimate, something realistic, something based on fact rather than a steady stream of fabricated intelligence? Why can we not ignore its dire consequences, and act as though we believe there is some good to come out of this entire debacle, and that victory is not only achievable, but imminent?

Where is our shame when we point our fingers at the immoral behavior of elected family values Republicans, and staunchly refuse to accept I asked Jesus to forgive me, and he did as being an end to the matter? Can we not just pretend that confessions of wrongdoing are spurred by a desire to clear the conscience, and the fact they surface after the fact of being caught are merely coincidental?

And speaking of coincidence, where is our shame when we discuss the profits of war-profiteers like Halliburton and their ties to the increased wealth of administration members and their respective families and friends? Can we not just marvel at the incredible coincidence of such occurrences, and be done with it?

Where is our shame when we pursue investigations into government corruption? Must we always be so righteous in our indignation that tax dollars have gone missing without explanation, or that bribery has become business as usual at the highest levels of our government? Can we not simply accept our losses, chalk it up to experience, and move on?

Where is our shame when we prattle on endlessly about the plight of the less fortunate? Why can’t we just jump on the it’s all about ME bandwagon, and agree to stop wasting money on social programs that assist the poor, the homeless, the down-and-out? Why can’t we just dismiss these lazy sub-humans out-of-hand and look out for only ourselves?

Where is our shame when we stand up for the rights of homosexuals who want to be treated as equal under the law? Why can’t we just ferret out some Bible verses that condemn their behavior, and insist that they have a foresworn agenda whose only purpose is to undermine the fabric of society?

Where is our shame when we staunchly refuse to agree that the Constitution is just a piece of paper that should be shredded and/or rewritten to accommodate more modern views of our nation and its relationship to our global neighbors? Why can’t we abandon all notions of freedom and democracy, and learn to go along to get along?

Where is our shame when we don’t fall into lockstep behind our elected party members, regardless of whether we agree with their positions or not? Why can’t we just go along with those who allegedly represent us, and not question them when they take impeachment off the table, or accept their kow-towing to the opposition as being a matter of compromise for the betterment of the nation as a whole?

Where is our shame when we steadfastly stand our ground on issues like torture? Why can’t we talk ourselves into believing that it isn’t immoral or illegal, and convince ourselves that in spite of the sanction of its use, we are still the good guys who hold ourselves above such barbarism?

Where is our shame when we raise issues about vote-counting, and our election system as a whole? Why can’t we just defer to the better judgment of Diebold, and embrace the idea that if certain citizens wind up not being able to vote, it’s probably because they shouldn’t be able to vote in the first place?

Where is our shame when we talk about support for our troops actually being non-existent? Why can’t we just put a bumpersticker on our vehicles and declare that as support enough?

Where is our shame when we suggest such outlandish ideas as diplomacy in our international dealings, and candid discussion with our enemies as well as our allies? Why can’t we get behind the idea that anyone who doesn’t agree with this administration is the enemy, and should be destroyed without hesitation?

Where is our shame when we question administration policies that have been proven, time and again, to be detrimental to world peace and the security of our country? Why can’t we stand behind failed policies and just pretend they have been successful in the past, and will continue to be successful in future?

Where is our shame when we call attention to a draft-dodging, ill-informed PNAC puppet making a fool of himself over and over, domestically and internationally, and even dare to question his sobriety and mental stability? Why can’t we at least act like the emperor has some clothes, even though his nakedness is readily apparent?

Where is our shame when we deride our so-called journalists and news media for failing to report the facts? Why can’t we blindly accept their biased parroting of right-wing propaganda and accept it as the unvarnished truth?

Where is our shame when we brazenly exercise our freedom of speech through protests, or calls for investigations into obvious wrongdoing? Why can’t we just shut up and go about our business, and ignore the fact that the running of our country is our business, and that our voices are meant to be part of the process?

Where is our shame when we adhere to fact in instead of ever-evolving fiction, science instead of ignorance, common sense instead of nonsense? Why can’t we just join the hopelessly ignorant and abjectly stupid among us, and denounce intelligent thought as the work of the devil?

Where is our shame, my fellow Democrats? Why do we cling to outmoded, outlandish ideas like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Why do we persist in ensuring that such concepts shall not perish in the face of those who seek to manipulate, convolute, and reinterpret their intent and their meaning?

Why can we not give up and give in; repeat the talking points as though they were truth, accept corporate greed as the highest form of patriotism, adopt the idea of war being the only sure road to peace?

Why can we not sever, once and for all, the connection we feel to our fellow global citizens who are discriminated against, dealt with unjustly, left to suffer and die because they cannot survive without our speaking out on their behalf?

Where is our shame? Are we pretending that it simply does not exist, or are we choosing to bury it under the insanity of being true patriots who believe in our party’s, and our country’s, lofty ideals?

I have no easy answer. Perhaps the best course of action is to continue our shameful conduct – because without it, there will be nothing left of our country for anyone to be proud of ever again.


Posted in full with author's permission.

Originally posted at democraticunderground.com: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/NanceGreggs/309