Gore on Bush

No, this time not Al Gore, but Gore Vidal. Here is his article on how Bush is like Jonah, bringing bad luck on our good ship USA, and needs to be tossed to the whale so we can remove the hex. My favourite part is his tirade against Bush's penchant for faith based nationhood. Quoting Morris Berman:

"If a nation is unable to perceive reality correctly, and persists in operating on the basis of faith-based delusions, its ability to hold its own in the world is pretty much foreclosed."

He also includes a handy summary of increasing American ignorance of anything that happened more than five minutes ago, or going on in reality - that world right outside their TV window, if they'd only care to take a glance:

Meanwhile, millions of adult Americans, presumably undrugged, have no idea who our enemies were in World War II. Many college graduates don't know the difference between an argument and an assertion (did their teachers also fail to solve this knotty question?). A travel agent in Arizona is often asked whether or not it is cheaper to take the train rather than fly to Hawaii. Only 12% of Americans own a passport. At the time of the 2004 presidential election 42% of voters believed that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11. One high school boy, when asked who won the Civil War, replied wearily, "I don't know and I don't care," echoing a busy neocon who confessed proudly: "The American Civil War is as remote to me as the War of the Roses."

Finally on the dimishing role of freedom in Bush's America, Vidal cites the "State of the First Amendment Survey" conducted by the University of Connecticut in 2003:

Meanwhile, the indoctrination of the people merrily continues. "In a 'State of the First Amendment Survey' conducted by the University of Connecticut in 2003, 34 percent of Americans polled said the First Amendment 'goes too far'; 46 percent said there was too much freedom of the press; 28 percent felt that newspapers should not be able to publish articles without prior approval of the government; 31 percent wanted public protest of a war to be outlawed during that war; and 50 percent thought the government should have the right to infringe on the religious freedom of 'certain religious groups' in the name of the war on terror."

Which nicely shows that people really are succefully being indoctrinated to the belief that "freedom" in America really means you're free to do anything you want, just so long as its support by the whims of the government d'jour. As one reader of LDTT points out "This country is so brainwashed and poised for dictatorship, it just seems inevitable. Hang on that British passport!! Wish I had one meself."

However I have to say that even my British passport may not be quite the get out of jail free card it looks like. At a party of the New Years I was harangued by a fellow countryman her on vacation, who bemoaned my lost English accent and implored that for the new year I resolve to return to Britain "because she needs you". The poor chap, sozzled though he was seem quite put out by the state of the United Kingdom and its continued butt-sniffing attitude to everything American. Which reminds me that I am actually also a member of that set of people known as "Europeans" and my British passport give me free reign to reside, work and play in any one of its 25 nation states.