God and Country, Love them or Leave!

[Editor's Note: Promoted and reformatted by mole333]

Until this year, I have always looked forward to the musical revue at the Capitol, aired by PBS for the Fourth of July. For reasons other than my disappointment in it this go around, I didn’t see but a portion of the show. The disappointment started because it no longer has the likes of Ossie Davis and Charles Durning. I’m a softie when it comes to the Greatest Generation. Yet, I must confess.

I don’t like war, think it is a waste of time and money, not to mention lives. In short, I consider war to be stupid. Which makes me not very patriotic in the sense of putting yellow ribbons on my belongings and marching in parades.

Being vigilant about what government is doing for us–and to us–is almost an occupation with me. And having lived a good part of a century, I absorbed enough history to realize war is what I study a lot of the time. The current self-inflicted shot in the foot by the US is especially galling. Still and all, I suppose eventually the thinkers will devise a way to explain what special malady in the world’s psyche got the troubles started this time.

Start with religion. And most do. Some fanatics decide it is better to die than to live against their grain, so they lash out. And the aggrieved come back with symbolic trenches, where there are reportedly no atheists. And we have ourselves a new conflict.

We Americans documented the rule of law and trust in God, and are ready to forgive almost anything from our fellow citizens except a besmirching of our private interpretation of the Constitution. One thing we know is that our brave men and women (used to be men mostly fighting to protect us women) are there to make the world safe. For what? Democracy? God? Rule of law? It’s tricky to answer because someone might feel you are not hip to the real issue. You could be Coulterized as a traitor.

P.W. Singer wrote:
AMERICAN GOODWILL, IN SHACKLES

How Bush hardliners and even mainstream pundits have hogtied one of our greatest potential strengths in the war on terrorism.
Here is a quote from the article:

“For example, a series of broad anti-Muslim statements have since been made by various U.S. officials and their close supporters, calling the religion of Islam "violent" and "evil." Rather than being refuted and condemned by senior officials, they were politely ignored. Illustrating the lack of costs that come with such expressions is the story of Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, who in a 2003 speech compared his faith with a Muslim's by stating, "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." Boykin has since been promoted; today he is deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence.”

I picked up a nice review of Michelle Goldberg’s book, and then I also found she interviewed Chris Hedges.

Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism by Michelle Goldberg (Paperback - April 9, 2007)

Again from salon.com:

The holy blitz rolls on

The Christian right is a "deeply anti-democratic movement" that gains force by exploiting Americans' fears, argues Chris Hedges. Salon talks with the former New York Times reporter about his fearless new book, "American Fascists."

Goldberg asks Hedges:

“Did you start out to research this book with the intellectual framework that comes from Hannah Arendt and Karl Popper in mind?”

Holy Toledo! They read books! Including one of my favorites, Hannah Arendt. Which leads me to what I wanted to say about what I just read.

History between 1962 and 1968 seems long as I look back on it in my own life. Learned a new skill, went to lots of community meetings, worried about a stepson with a draft card in his pocket, and at last a little movement on Negro rights. In other words, I have just finished the trilogy of Taylor Branch’s history of the King Years. So much coincided with my memories of life in Chicago. When our boy was still young enough to be idealistic and old enough to roam in our neighborhood, he was there when Jessie Jackson thought to march into Cicero, a place some of my African-American friends would drive three miles to skirt. They stopped at the Chicago border, but the book (so thoroughly documented) reports that Dr. King regretted not letting Jessie do it. The kid came home disappointed that the march didn’t proceed. There were so few onlookers, he said, that the television crew asked them to keep circling back to make it look greater. Then there was the time we were in Washington D.C. just as a few marchers stood in front of the Department of Justice building and Attorney General Bobby Kennedy came driving up in a limousine. The kid was ecstatic.

The day after the assassination, as there were plenty of fires, I rode the el (through Cicero) and serenely got off in the Loop for IBM classes. The Guard was patrolling, which was a plus. Many people stayed home, and for once I didn’t have to wait for a table at lunch.

I needn’t tell you my life story, but I really would like to hear others’. Reason? I get tired of long well-thought-out treatises on the race issue, the woman issue, the education issue. I invite a discussion of the human condition, which is after all Hannah Arendt’s title for one of her books.

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