I am writing in response to the anonymous vitriol "Chad too Far" (#430). I understand the disgust of the author, as I am an American citizen who must now endure another four years of an increasingly more restrictive regime. Still, you must be wary when you say "millions of U.S. voters put [George Bush] into power in the first place."
George Bush hijacked the election in 2000, used our highest judicial branch to help him do so and did not win the popular vote outright. A distinction that should have made his presidency more precarious and his actions more bipartisan than they actually were. Agreeably, America has not been the best neighbor but don't assume that the entire American populace supports this administration's actions. Forty seven percent of the American people raged and rallied against the administration's dangerous and dictatorial "cowboy" politics. Many of us on the ground here in the U.S. marched, called, donated, baked pies and tried to convince the voting electorate that Bush was not the answer. They obviously weren't listening. So now your shock and condemnation are warranted because many happily duped Americans just reinstalled this caricature back into office. Understandably, it is not your responsibility or that of any other nation to save America from itself. In fact many nations might even want this disrespectful superpower to be brought down a few notches in the world sphere. Still, anyone and everyone who truly cares about a balanced and strong global community should now find the time and the courage to speak out and speak up to their own elected officials to stem the flow of unchecked and irresponsible misuses of power. Americans have thus far proved unwilling or unable to stave of the march of the coming jackbooted fascists. So now is the time to make your disdain more useful and use your free press to honestly and openly report the truth of this president's actions. Our press now faces being "frozen out" for reporting unflattering stories about the administration. Can those in the E.U. stop arguing about how to spell the word 'euro' and instead stare down and reverse the coming tide of another dark age?
Christine Beresniova,
The U.S.A.
