I am dismayed at the importance religion has taken on in government and politics. Many immigrants to this country fled here because of religious persecution or intolerance in their countries of origin, and I think their descendents are making America into the kind of country their forefathers fled.
Why is it important that John Kerry believes in God and quotes from the bible? Face it, America is now a religious state and we must all live under the laws and morality of Christianity.
I saw a poll the other day of Indonesia ( a democratic Moslem country) where 90% of people surveyed felt that President Bush was fighting a war against Islam. Now, whether he really is or not, this is a common perception in the Moslem world. This is not a war on terrorism, this is George W. Bush’s mission to bring civilization to the infidels.
Why is there terrorism against us? Because people hate us. Why do they hate us? Not because they are crazy, not because they are psychotic, to paraphrase Bill Maher, “they hate us because we don’t have a clue why they hate us.” I highly recommend reading Maher’s book, “When you ride alone, you ride with Bin Laden.” While I don’t agree with everything he says, he is right on when it comes to answering why they hate us.
Can you name all the countries in Africa? Here’s an easier one, how many countries can you correctly identify in the Middle East, or South America, or Asia? My god, can you even correctly identify all the countries in Europe? Americans have a complete lack of interest in the rest of the world. Except for the rarely noticed humanitarian crisis and 9-11, we only act when the resources we require are in danger. Iraq falls under this category. If this was about WMD getting into the hands of terrorists, then North Korea and Iran were much more dangerous than Iraq.
Americans make up 5% of the world population and create 20% of the carbon dioxide emissions. If everyone in the world created as much pollution as Americans do on a per capita basis, we would all be dead. Every gallon of gasoline used creates 20 cubic feet of carbon dioxide. Our forests cannot process this growing amount, especially when they are constantly diminishing. Oh, but your hardwood floors are so beautiful! And that mahogany dresser is breathtaking!
We support rulers who do what we want. Because they have lots of oil and are our friends, we have kept the Saudi rulers in power, even though most of the terrorists who commited the terrorist acts on 9-11 came from there, a large amount of terrorist funding has been traced to there, and the populace doesn’t even want these people ruling.
Throughout the third world, we have aided the overthrow of democratically elected leaders in order to put puppet dictators in place. Yes, believe us, our mission is to make the world democratic!
We are a materialistic culture. The ends justify the means. We expect the world to speak English to accomodate us; to agree with us wholeheartedly or we’ll boycott their products. We are the only remaining superpower and they should bow down in recognition of us!
What’s not to hate about us?
We need to get some humility before it’s too late. This is how to fight terrorism! The European leaders have just signed the EU Constitution, India and China are experiencing phenominal growth. We will not be the only superpower for long.
In the end, I ask you this: how long can the schoolyard bully stay on top when the next three biggest kids are just getting their growth spurts?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“We support rulers who do what we want. Because they have lots of oil and are our friends, we have kept the Saudi rulers in power…
…Yes, believe us, our mission is to make the world democratic!”
Similar to the fact that “Saudi Arabia” means “House of Saud” and represents the Monarchy of the Saud’s? But our goal is to spread democracy to all people. Yeah right.
Wow, I was really angry when I wrote this.