Lately I've been hearing a voice in my head.
Specifically, it's the voice of Charlie Sheen, doing his monologue towards the end of the movie Platoon.
Sheen is a young US soldier in Vietnam, caught up in the battle between two superior officers, Willem Defoe (the good guy) and Tom Berenger (the bad guy). That's how it goes in the movies, there are always good guys and bad guys, lest any moral ambiguity cause confusion amongst the audience.
To the sound of background bombs and violins, Sheen is talking about how the battle between Defoe and Berenger really comes down to a battle that we all wage within ourselves, the age-old battle between Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, Truth and Lies...
So it has been with the US election. I'm not saying Kerry was the outright Good Guy - there's plenty of room for moral ambiguity there. But Bush and his team definitely represent all that's worst about the human spirit. Over the past four years, they have wrought destruction, death and suffering across the planet, dressing it all up in a package of innuendo, concealment and outright lies. The truth was always there for anyone who cared to examine it.
Faced with this, US voters had to make a choice. And ulitmately, the real choice they had to make was within themselves. Sadly, more than half of them chose wilfull ignorance, listened to the siren songs of fear and false promises, or simply climbed aboard Karl Rove's groupthink bandwagon, destination Fascism.
This isn't just about Four More Years. This decision will affect us all - the entire world - for the next forty years or more.
With the end of the Cold War, the USA had a golden opportunity to lead the world towards a more open, free and fair global community. Sadly, the values which the US trumpeted while battling Communist Russia have turned out to be empty promises. Self-interest, it seems, is really the core of the American Dream.
And perhaps, in the end, that is a true reflection of the failings of the human spirit.
What now?
Don't hold your breath waiting to see if Bush will work towards healing the 49-51 rift in US society. As he once quipped to his big business supporters, "
And don't hold your breath waiting for the Democrats to reform and present a proper candidate in 2008. Bush's fellow Skull-and-Bonesman conceded defeat today knowing that his own continuing life of privilege will not be greatly affected by this loss. He and his fellow Democrats will still be doing deals in Congress, rubber-stamping Bush policies and growing fat on free lunches from corporate lobbyists.
It's time to step away from the confines of the established political process and look at what we can do as individuals to make this world a better place.
People will tell you that, with 51% of the vote, George W. Bush now deserves your respect and your co-operation. I beg to disagree.
Bush's victory was built on misleading lies and shameful manipulation. His government has violated international law and is guilty of war crimes in Iraq, leading to countless deaths. Detainees in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere continue to be detained without charge or access to the outside world, in contravention of basic human rights. The Orwellian Patriot Act defies the basic freedoms of the US Constitution. Bush is about to appoint more politically corrupt judges to the Supreme Court, making a mockery of Law as well as Government. Bush is systematically destroying the planet's environment, milking the US treasury of funds for generations to come and destroying the Western world's hard-won reputation for fairness and justice.
You owe these people nothing, nothing but contempt.
As author Mickey Z reminds us, the post WWII Nuremberg Tribunal (1945-1946) proclaimed: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience ... Therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."
We are free men and women. We must use our freedom responsibly, while we still have it.
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