Reply #35: I'm of the same "vintage" too

[Golden Raisin]

and PROFOUNDLY upset at the utter havoc I see being wrought on my country by the neocons and BushCo. I try to believe that, "we've been through bad/scary times before and survived", but I no longer feel sure about a positive outcome. The changes evident today are startling to someone of my generation. We no longer have any Sam Ervins as we did during Watergate. There are infinitely too few Congresspeople serving as "the conscience" of the people and upholding the Constitution and Democracy. In fact, there are too many who are merely tools of the hordes of today's omnipresent & powerful lobbyists. Rove's/Bush's use of FEAR as a tactic to win & maintain power has been masterful, historic and precedent-setting. The population is SO dumbed-down now that they are too busy being glued to 'American Idol' to realize that their Constitutional rights are being deliberately eroded and destroyed (rights a recent poll stated most Americans couldn't even name!) We've all read the horror stories about Americans who cannot identify Iraq on a map of the world --- or France --- or even California! The astonishing difference/change in the media from 40 years ago to today depresses and shocks me no end. They no longer serve as an independent check on government but are either passive, owned by corporations, or outright in cahoots. Paid, Talking-Head Bullies spouting personal opinions and Fox/Murdoch/Bush rightwing propaganda like Hannity & O'Reilly are considered the equivalent of serious journalists. Freakazoid, deliberately shocking, fascist "personalities" like Ann Coulter & Michelle Malkin are legitimized by being given airtime and newspaper columns. Worst and most crucial of all, with Diebold, etal, I fear that our votes now count for nought and elections are rigged/fixed/pre-ordained by the Roves of this world. As far as I'm concerned Bush did not "win" either election. When the Supreme Court intervened the first time and basically authorized a coronation of Bush, despite massive evidence of voting irregularities in Florida, I thought I was going to have a stroke. The people (sheeple) now swallow lies and outrageous propaganda that make the topsy-turvy world of Alice in Wonderland or an LSD trip seem sane. Bush says, "51% is a MANDATE." Few argue. I say to myself, "In what friggin' alternate, parallel universe?" The simple arithmetic doesn't compute. Bush STILL walks around saying things are going positively in Iraq and not enough people are outraged. The list of scary, anti-democratic trends grows longer every day. There's the evil, pernicious WARRANTLESS domestic spying. And the so-called "Patriot" act. And the deliberate stacking of the Supreme Court to tilt seriously to the right. And the insane, almost incomprehensible numbers of the national deficit. The rise of the so-called "Christian" movement is a new and extremely disturbing element in the mix of American life/politics. I can only believe the neocons/BushCo are deliberately destroying/bankrupting the American economy as an adjunct to their Grover Norquist-inspired edict to destroy/hobble big government. The recent port deal affair does not dissuade me from that opinion. The Congress and the American people better wake up before its entirely too late (and it may already be too late.) What exactly does that sneering, smirking Bush have to do for people to hear alarm bells? How obvious does it have to become? Does he have to wear a Nazi uniform and a Hitler moustache and goosestep on the balcony of the White House? Open up the first domestic "internment camp" for "opponents of the administration"? Declare martial law, abolish elections and the Constitution? Let's hope its not too late.