by Everett Griffiths
Originally published in the Johnstown Breeze.
Something frightening has been happening in the recent political atmosphere: it has become almost sacrilegious to critique our government, but suppressing criticism will surely cause our government further troubles.
In a dictatorship, the most blindly supportive citizens are considered the most patriotic. We all laughed at the recent Iraqi poll that showed Saddam with 100% support. Why do we laugh? Because we know that there was only one choice on the ballot, and people would have risked persecution or death had they not shown their support.
In principle, however, this current trend in American politics is not far removed from Saddam's shadowy muscle flexing. Has anyone else noticed how even staunch Democrats are making a point to show their support for President Bush? If they are guilty of being obsequious yes-men, the Republicans are guilty of being the vainglorious whistle blowers; their base campaign ads knowingly spelled political disaster for any opponent who they deemed as "unpatriotic," and it is this label that currently sounds the death knell for any would-be politician. All of this ensures that no one contaminates the enthusiasm for the president. What's next? Reporting your neighbors? Local committees that monitor patriotism? Mandatory ballots with the choices already marked in?
The First Amendment right to criticize is more basic than the right to bear arms; everybody's got a mouth, not everybody's owns a gun. Under the flag of "bipartisan support," people across the country are silently giving up this right, and as a result America's international blunders stand a smaller chance of being resolved. Unanimous support for the president, however, does nothing to call attention to the fact that he can and should do a better job. This is not Iraq. This is not China. I should be able to say this without fear of disappearing into the night at the hands of gestapo mud-slingers.
There are many points to criticize, but the most notable omission has been the US government's reluctance to evaluate the causes of their current problems; as a country, we are denying that our actions have caused unwanted, and sometimes deadly, reactions. A government should protect its people, and in this, the US is doing a terrible job. I'm not talking about our omnipresent military or our local police force, I'm talking about about the enemies America continually creates with its arrogant, self-serving foreign relations. A superpower will always draw some complaints, but America continually ignores, mistreats, and insults other countries and their interests; it is with good reason that much of the world hates us Yankees. Foreign exporters are upset because of unfair tariffs, political leaders are frustrated because America disregards international rules, and many countries are tired of sharing their soil with the American military. Others question the integrity of "The Land of the Free" when the majority of our citizens do not vote. Many wonder how George Bush can condemn Iraq for violating UN regulations, then blatantly disregard those same regulations by threatening to attack it, even without UN approval. How about the recent killing of Al Qaeda suspects – since when did America presume guilt and execute suspects? Even American diplomats have been brought to tears by the swinging door ethics of the White House, and it is this arrogance that makes us the butt of jokes, causes us to be kicked out of restaurants, and it is precisely this that is ultimately responsible for brewing terrorism. Perhaps the most salient example of an issue needing criticism is how the American media has conveniently forgotten that the CIA once recruited Osama bin Laden for their own clandestine purposes.
The best protection comes from good diplomacy, and if our government used it more intelligently, there would certainly be fewer threats to worry about. However, if preemptive diplomacy is not forthcoming, many of us will continue to lie about our nationality while traveling abroad. We will do this in an attempt to protect ourselves from the bad reputation that has spread before us, and we will become increasingly bewildered at the unwillingness to acknowledge that there is a problem and that it desperately needs to be fixed. Is it not the patriot's duty to call attention to a leak in the dam so that it can be repaired?
