The words that come out of Bush’s mouth become more chilling by the day.
He recently told a group of conservative journalists that he senses a “Third Awakening” of religious devotion and open expressions of faith in the US akin to similar periods in the 18th and 19th centuries. He also noted how these people agree with him in seeing the current US struggles in terms of “good vs. evil,” with of course his side being that of “good.”
Hearing those words, I couldn’t help but wonder if we live in the American democracy envisioned by our forefathers, or whether we are slipping into the dystopian theocratic America described in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
I’m also not surprised if such a resurgence of religious faith is taking place among Bush’s followers. After all, only faith in Bush himself can bridge the connection between Iraq, the war on terror, and the so-called “good” he is championing.
If Bush is right that our “war on terror” is really just a struggle between good and evil, then:
- The torture and indefinite detention of prisoners of war, and shielding torturers from prosecution, are “good.”
- A war with no justification or connection to how we were attacked is “good.”
- The hypocrisy of dealing with Saudi autocrats who brutally repress their society at the same time that we trumpet the cause of freedom as justification for the Iraq war is “good.”
- Forcefeeding our vision of secular Jeffersonian democracy onto people who do not want it because of their drastically different religious and cultural beliefs is “good.”
- Using a traumatic event like September 11th where thousands of people lost their lives to spin a political ideology and justify an unrelated war is “good.”
- Breaking our nation’s social compact we call the Constitution by seeking unlimited power to spy on our own citizens while they are stripped of any court protection is “good.”
- Seeking to convict prisoners of war without letting them see the evidence arrayed against them is “good.”
With “good” like this, who needs evil?
History is replete with examples of how such “good” deeds have been used in the epic struggle of good vs. evil. Events like the Salem witch trials, the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, and the Third Reich come to mind.
Bush has forgotten the simple ethical maxim that the ends don’t justify the means. In prosecuting his “good vs. evil war on terror” in the manner he has, he’s become no better than America’s enemies.
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{ 2 comments }
Very well said. For all the breast-beating that the GOP is doing over actions they assert must be taken to protect our way of life, the point seems to be entirely lost on them that what they propose as defense actually transforms our way of life and in the process, destroy it. If we must become like our “evil” enemy to defeat them, then the enemy has already won.
The Handmaid’s Tale reference is very apt. You’re sharp…keep it up.
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