Today I was listening to President Bush speak in Vienna (see above link). Sounding like an idiot cowboy who was trying to explain things to all the other cowboys, he was a total embarrassment. Then I listened as the commentators on NPR went on about how much we are hated in Europe and around the world.
America is losing any moral high ground it ever had. We lost it in Vietnam, but gained a lot of it back during the Clinton years. Now we have prison camps in Cuba, people being held for years without access to a court or even a lawyer. Torture is our tool of choice, but even that we like to outsource. I know I will not be traveling to Europe until the Bush years are over. Talk about the ugly American.
When did we become a country that throws out the rule of law any time we are threatened. I know we had some of that during the Civil War, and the two world wars, but that was during an extreme emergency. While the threat of terrorism is very real, it pales in comparison to any of the three conflicts I just mentioned.
If the Republicans hold Congress this Fall, we will have to ask ourselves "who are we?" How can we accept what this party is doing to us and still call ourselves Americans? The Party of God seems to have no moral compass except the will to power.
