capri0mni | Nov. 6th, 2004

My most recent post here deeply offended some on my f'list who voted for President Bush. I appologize for way I wrote it -- going for "a zinger," rather than fully explaining my philosophy, and why I used the language I did. But I do not, in any way, regret or retract the substance of the post.

And here is why:

If someone had told me four years ago, that, within nine months of George Bush's inauguration, Congress would pass a law allowing the government to declare any American citizens an enemies of the state, deny them access to legal counsel, and imprison them indefinitely in solitary confinement without even informing them of the charges ... Well ... I would have suspected that tinfoil hats were an important part of my informant's wardrobe, and would have discretely called the friendly men in white coats.

Something like that just couldn't happen -- not here -- not America. We were protected by our Constitution -- a document that has survived over two hundred years -- and survived Richard Nixon, the most blatently criminal president in our history, who lied and stole, and used the FBI to intimidate his personal enemies.

And yet, that tinfoil-hat-nightmare scenerio did come to pass -- it's called "The Patriot Act." Then came the Doctrine of Preemptive War, and the fabrication of evidence to justify such a war, and the outing of a CIA agent (putting her life in danger) because her husband spoke out against the fabrication of evidence. I was a little suspicious, four years ago, of how Bush gained the White House, when the Supreme Court, which normally ruled in favor of State's Rights, overturned Florida's court, and ordered workers to stop the recount. But I never thought we'd slide so far down the road to despotism as to have The Patriot Act and Preemptive War. Now, I don't know what to think.

Four years ago, I would have dismissed such stories as this one (thanks for the heads-up,

kalibex) as another tinfoil hat conspiracy theory. I'm not so sure, today. I'm not as confident today as I was four years ago that we will have another chance to change things in four years. And George Bush will not have to declare himself king, either. All he has to do is appoint the judges he wants to the Supreme Court, to ensure that his personal, narrow-minded interpretation of our laws will hold sway over the lives of our grandchildren.

So -- to those of you contemplating moving to Canada -- Please don't. We need all hands for this fight.

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Note: After I posted the offending entry, I slept well for the first time in weeks, so it must have been something I needed to get off my chest. But from now on, I will vent my political fears in