Will made me do it...

This was a rant I’d posted on Will Dixon's excellent blog, which I thought I’d tweak and post up here, just in case it was all a bit much for a “comment”...

Though war is the ultimate insanity perpetrated by one “nation” upon another (anybody recall actually being personally asked whether we wanted to go to war in Iraq?) and it is colouring the issues over which the current “Midtacular” is being fought, there are still things external to this that are fundamentally flawed with the Bush administration.

Keith Olbermann (and Colbert and Stewart) does a fine job outlining Iraq-related issues as well as highlighting those of domestic policy, in which civil liberty infringements and McCarthyism seem to be sneaking in through the back door.

In a similar fashion to the UK, where we have a general public astonishingly credulous of the clumsy fabrications of fact and political ‘spin’ by a government whose oratorial abilities are not much more advanced than those of student debating societies, the US administration (not particularly known for its anti-corruption efforts) is, for the most part, baldly lying to its electorate. And getting away with it.

I generally try to stay away from getting too involved in it all. Partly because I’ll get an ulcer if I let it get to me too much, but also because a lot of my company’s corporate work is tied to, you guessed it, the Houses of Parliament over here. Anyone know of any area of life that isn’t shades of murky grey?

I’m as involved in US politics as most US citizens (possibly more so), mainly due to the US wielding such enormous power on the world stage. The cheesy line “With great power comes great responsibility” is sadly being ignored by the Bush administration to the point that, whenever a conflict arises around the world, the only ambassador that elicits groans of horror when they arrive is Condoleezza Rice. You just know that things are going to get worse once she starts harping on at whoever it is that’s fighting...

The major difficulty facing the US is, as is the way of things in modern times, one of perception. When I was growing up, the US was a country to aspire to visit; kids would dream of going to US schools, having US friends, eating US food and talking in that wonderfully exotic (at the time) accent.

Now, the US is broadly percieved as an arrogant, blundering idiot child of a country, crashing around demanding the rest of the world does things its way, shouting and kicking until it gets its way. I’ve got to stress that this is a perception of the country and is not an attack on the citizens of the US, who are f**king excellent people, IMHO.

As with all generalisations, close scrutiny makes this evaporate quicker than a good glass of whisky in an air-conditioned hotel bar. Citizens of the US are being done a horrifying disservice by their administration, led by a thick, red-necked buffoon who, if he wasn’t in charge of the biggest economy in the world (and all that leviathan entails), would be just the funny little man who runs Dumbfuckistan. However, this illiterate fuckwit and his accomplices have managed to make the world a progressively more dangerous place, provoked wars, increased globabl terrorism (not without the odd spot of help here and there, obviously), pushed the US into brain-melting national debt, endangered relations between many countries and made the rest of us constantly have to remind ourselves that the rest of the US public are not like him.

Bill Clinton, for all his foibles (Jesus, he got his dick sucked - lighten up!), was a deal-maker. Though not possessed of the greatest track record of any US president, he was willing to ask of even some of the most extreme foreign leaders: “What is it you want?” and “How can we come to a compromise that doesn’t involve shooting people?” You have to start from there. Unwillingness to compromise is not strength, it is weakness borne of fear and hatred.

So, I have a plan. Reasonable, moderate and stylish (naturally).

Over here in the UK, we once had this fella called Guy Fawkes...

No, seriously. Get out and vote. Participate in bringing down this bastard and installing someone (anyone!) with a brain and an awareness that foreigners are a GOOD THING and should be engaged in an inclusive dialogue instead of bombed, burnt, tortured and obliterated. Republican or Democrat? Doesn’t matter, just stop him and stop him now. You badly need a government in which you can place some trust.

Rant over. Apologies all...

Currently listening to: Out Of Exile by Audioslave