Humanity Suffers the Savagery of the American Empire's Post-9/11 Worldview
Pink Slips Abound for Prosecutors and Therapists
 

March 29 2006
Counterbias.com
by Jason Miller
 

Karl Rove, the mastermind of Bush II’s ascension to America’s seat of power, is a man of great distinction. Despite his decidedly porcine features, Mr. Rove’s Machiavellian lust for power, narcissistic lack of empathy, sycophantic devotion to the Bush crime family, deceitful nature, and conniving mind coalesce to leave the Prince looking like a pauper.

Remember Rove’s infamous remarks concerning the 9/11 tragedy?

1. “Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.” Referring to conservatives, he said that they “saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war.”

2. “At the core, we are dealing with two parties that have fundamentally different views on national security. Republicans have a post-9/11 worldview and many Democrats have a pre-9/11 worldview. That doesn’t make them unpatriotic—not at all. But it does make them wrong—deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.”

Powerful propaganda indeed

Both remarks have had the intended effect. Millions of indoctrinated Americans have responded in knee-jerk fashion, blindly waving the flag to support the imperialist, plutocratic, and dictatorial agenda of Rove, Bush and their fellow disciples of Strauss. Despite their fundamentally flawed logic, Rove’s comments sowed the seeds of fear and insecurity deeply into the psyche of many Americans. Throwing critical thinking to the wind (and thus carrying out their programming), many of Bush’s loyal minions vilify those who support moral principals such as universal human rights, equality, peace and social justice, labeling them as liberals, socialists, or (God forbid) Communists.

Taking their oversimplification one step further, many who still believe in the fairy tale version of America assume that each liberal must be a Democrat. Never mind that many Democrats have shown themselves to be as devoid of virtue as their Republican counterparts. Many “good Americans” are inculcated with the belief that people with “liberal” beliefs blindly support all Democrats. For those conforming to American groupthink, it is nearly impossible to deviate from the false dichotomies of conservative vs. liberal or Republican vs. Conservative. How comforting for our de facto ruling class that they can count on placid acceptance of their moral turpitude as scores of millions of Americans are too absorbed in working, consuming, and watching television to notice. Don’t worry. Be happy.

Who can we scapegoat?

Someone recently asked me how the illegal occupation of Iraq has changed our nation. Since Bush and his cabal used 9/11 as a blatantly false pretense for invading Iraq, I decided to examine how the United States has changed since the WTC collapse.

In his clever sound-bites I quoted above, Rove set up yet another false dichotomy (manipulative people love to use them). According to him, we had only two choices: pursue the 9/11 perpetrators through legal channels and come to realize that our imperialistic, murderous behavior was fueling intense hatred against the United States or go to war. Taking bold legal action to capture and punish those responsible for the WTC collapse while changing our behavior to conform to international law would have made more sense than going to war against a nation which had no involvement in 9/11. However, catching the criminals and embracing legal behavior would have led to indictments against members of the Bush Regime. Besides, respecting human rights and international law would require the current administration to scrap virtually all of their foreign and domestic policies. So, ignoring the rational option and a host of other possibilities which may or may not have made sense, our criminal government invaded Iraq.

Let’s take a look and see

Let’s compare and contrast “pre-9/11” and “post-9/11” America so we can sharpen the simplistic, distorted images of the two worldviews Rove (AKA Turd Blossom) sought to create with his clever propaganda. Perhaps we can discern whether or not the Bush Regime’s policies and actions since September 11, 2001 have been “deeply and profoundly and consistently right”.

Muslims do not have a monopoly on extremism

I want to start in my own backyard here in Kansas. The “apocalyptic” event on 9/11 sparked the fervor of the Christian extremists in our midst. Our very own Senator Brownback is making a bid for the Presidency on a platform which essentially promises to convert the United States into a theocracy. After conducting a kangaroo court, a majority of the Kansas State School Board members decided they were both erudite and righteous enough to re-write the definition of science and to open the door to introduce the “theory” of Intelligent Design in our public schools, which one of my sons attends. I feel reassured knowing that his school will teach him that merely observing the complexity of the world “proves” that there has to be an intelligent designer (translated as the Christian deity). Thankfully, he will also learn that the idea of Intelligent Design rivals the Theory of Evolution, despite the fact that Evolution is supported by years of research by thousands of scientists. And what discussion of Christian extremism would be complete without mention of Kansan Fred Phelps, a "minister" filled with hatred and venom?

(Note to Christians who actually follow the compassionate teachings of Christ and employ the mind that God gave you: it is not you whom I disparage.)

Time travel to the Gilded Age anyone?

Recently, my favorite pet store closed. My family and I frequented this “mom and pop” shop often. Their prices were a little high, but they took excellent care of their animals, carried outstanding inventory, and were friendly and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, once Petco erected one of their Big-Box stores in the same parking lot, our pet supplier was doomed. In our metro area with a population of nearly two million, there are a mere handful of small proprietors running pet stores. Thanks to Petco and other corporate behemoths, a multitude of small businesses in our city have folded during the Bush Regime.

On several occasions, my wife’s cousin has told me of Wal-Mart’s impact on her small home-town in Missouri. The big yellow smiley face brought frowns to most of Brookfield’s inhabitants. It cost the taxpayers $300,000.00 worth of incentives to bring a “Super-Store” to town. Little did the unsuspecting residents know that they were paying to enable Wal-Mart to work its “magic”, which included driving many small businesses under while offering lower wages and fewer benefits to displaced workers. Always low prices, wages and morals.

Yes, a corporatocracy is a beautiful thing. The minimum wage has not increased since 1997. The number of uninsured Americans has risen to 45 million. Such is life in the “free market” economy touted so highly by Bush and his corporate cronies. But true believers know that our president is doing what is best for the country. Marketers of the American Dream have taught them that soulless corporations (which enjoy many of the rights and few of the responsibilities of a real person) will protect the interests of the working people and consumers.

Since 9/11, Rove and the Bush Regime have steadily eroded government regulation of corporate leviathans. Spinning yarns that would make an unscrupulous salesperson blush, our ruling elites and the compliant mainstream media assure us that most CEOs, whose salaries average 400 times that of their employees and who exist to please their avaricious share-holders, are certain to make decisions which balance ethics with profit. Today’s wealthy elite are too morally evolved to engage in the exploitation and passive murder of employees and consumers committed by their predecessors during the Gilded Age. They can be trusted. Post-9/11 America is a wonderful place for small business owners, consumers, and employees. Just think of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Monsanto, the offshoring of American jobs, powerful corporate lobbyists, Nike sweatshops, the military industrial complex, union-busting, the obscene profits of drug and oil companies, and on, and on ….

Murder, mayhem, and sinister motives veiled by “noble causes”

What portrait of the world since 9/11 would be complete without considering America’s invasion and colonial occupation of Iraq? The dangerous minds behind the Project for the New American Century, a think tank that outlines strategy for the United States to achieve world military domination, determined that they needed a new Pearl Harbor to launch their quest for global hegemony. 9/11 provided that catalyst. Rumsfeld, Powell and company shrewdly convinced enough Americans of Iraq’s culpability for 9/11 (and that Hussein possessed WMD’s) that they mustered the necessary popular support to initiate their imperialist invasion. Mark Twain himself could not have penned fiction to top the intricate, suspenseful dramas scripted by the Neocons. Defying the United Nations and violating a myriad of international laws, the United States threw off the last vestiges of benevolence by pre-emptively invading a sovereign nation (whose people it had already been passively mass murdering by the hundreds of thousands through the UN economic sanctions it orchestrated in the 1990’s).

The invasion did end the sanctions, but the United States has now actively murdered tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians (anywhere from 38,000 to 250,000 depending on which report one believes---but remember: the US military “doesn’t do body counts”). Iraq's infrastructure is in a shambles. Few civilians have access to water or sewage facilities. Electricity is only available for several hours a day. Oil production is well below pre-invasion levels. Chaos and civil war grip the nation. And did I mention the 2,300 Americans who joined the military to protect their country but instead wasted their lives on an ill-conceived plot to expand the American Empire? Mission accomplished, eh George?

Who needs human rights when we have a benevolent dictatorship?

Personally, I liked the pre-9/11 worldview, especially since it included a nearly intact Constitution. Alexander Hamilton would thrive in post 9/11 America, where the Bill of Rights is going the way of the Dodo. I know it is unpatriotic of me while our nation is waging a “war on terror”, but I sorely miss the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Maybe I am just spoiled and idealistic, but the Patriot Act, the death of habeas corpus, denial of due process, torture, and illegal domestic spying deeply disturb me. Viewing the world through the quaint lenses of my pre-9/11 worldview, I believe that the vision of America that was born in 1789 could still become a reality. Unfortunately, under the pretext of “national security”, the Bush Regime is unraveling the progress that Abolitionists, Populists, Progressives, civil rights activists, and many others made toward the ideals spelled out in our Constitution. America was evolving toward the nation Thomas Paine had envisioned. Now Paine’s vision is in jeopardy of dying. The vultures of despotism are eagerly circling to greedily pick the flesh from the bones of democracy’s carcass. Remember Jose Padilla, Abu Gharib, Bagram Air Base, Guantanamo Bay, illegal domestic spying, the illegal occupation in Iraq, two stolen elections, 9/11, the Reichstag Fire, the Enabling Act….

In the post-9/11 worldview, consolidation of power into the Executive Branch is necessary to protect us from the terrorists. Since it is now common knowledge amongst the Empire’s loyalists that all Islamic people are terrorists, we need to entrust Bush with as much power as possible to maximize our protection. Why bother with the messy constraints of a system of checks and balances when we can have one man, particularly one the caliber of George Bush, making the decisions based on his beliefs and the directives he receives from God. Occasionally Congress raises its head and grunts an objection at Emperor George when Senators like Schumer and Clinton think it will further their political careers to show people they can flex some muscle, but most of the time our legislative branch rubber-stamps the edicts from the Black House. Bush has repeatedly demonstrated that he is a rogue with no respect for that “God-damned piece of paper” housed at the National Archives or those pansy international laws (probably written by the French). You think any self-respecting Texan is going to let those wooden-shoed, tulip tending ultraliberals at The Hague tell him what to do? Hell, he doesn’t need FISA’s approval to spy on Americans, let alone a bunch of “foreigners” telling him how to run his country. The sad reality is that George Bush is the world’s most dangerous terrorist. His stockpile of WMDs surpasses those envisioned in Saddam Hussein’s wildest imaginings, he is not afraid to use them, and he is quite adept at using them without firing them. W is the new sheriff in town. Bush only submits to one Earthly authority. Israel dictates US foreign policy when it is not too heavily engaged in its ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.

Hey, Big Spender…

As of 3/15/06, our national debt was $8.28 trillion and was increasing by an average of $2.1 billion per day. Prior to 9/11, the United States was less than $5.8 trillion in the red. We obviously had a pre-9/11 problem, but the Black House’s post-9/11 worldview involves addressing the problem with a brilliant solution: keep borrowing more from Japan and China, continue increasing military expenditures (which already account for 60% of global military spending), advance more cut taxes for the rich, and persist in choking off social programs which benefit humanity and the environment.

Welcome to the “Third World”, New Orleans!

Some of you nostalgic dreamers with a pre-9/11 worldview might remember Mardi Gras, the Big Easy, and the birth-place of jazz. You might also remember the passive mass murder committed by the Bush Regime as they did virtually nothing to prepare for Katrina, despite warnings about the inadequacies of the levees that came as early as 2001. In fact, under Bush, the federal government reduced funding intended to strengthen the levees and whittled FEMA down to a shadow of its former self. There is now video evidence that Bush received a briefing the day before Katrina struck which alerted him to the magnitude of the storm; his response was to ignore it. Apparently, he chose to act based on a post- 9/11 worldview and let local authorities contend with the storm. At least give him credit for flying over and waving at New Orleans from Air Force One after the storm had passed. And Mother Bush did pay a visit to the Astrodome to remind Americans that the Katrina evacuees were “underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.” Thanks to the criminal negligence and ineptitude of our federal government (which collects the lion’s share of tax money from We the People and is mandated by the Constitution to “promote the general welfare”), thousands of people are dead or missing and a major city lies in ruins. How peculiar that most of the dead and missing are poor and black. What an odd coincidence.

I owe my soul to the company store….

I yearn for the days when so many Americans hadn’t traded their souls and freedom for an SUV to drive (paying big dollars for gasoline gives them self-justification for their hatred of Muslims), magnetic “Support the Troops” ribbons (at least we now have a replacement for the plastic Jesus), a McDonald’s on every other corner (a scapegoat for unhealthy eating habits), Wal-Mart (to keep prices, wages, benefits, and competition low), the DHS (to play Big Brother and keep them safe), and free market capitalism (so they can keep buying more “stuff”). Yet I wonder, did a time truly exist during my adult life when massive numbers of Americans were not spiritually bereft, or was I simply one of the consumer zombies and thus unaware of the problem? I conclude it was probably the latter. Thankfully, I was able to wrest my soul free from the tenacious grip of the American Corporatocracy, and I intend to help as many as I am able to reclaim theirs.

My conclusion?

After some reflection, it would appear that America’s pre-9/11 worldview was much more rational, logical, and conducive to continued human existence on this planet than the post-9/11 worldview. Karl Rove spoke of a pre-9/11 viewpoint as “deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.” If that is true, let’s go back to being “wrong”. I am neither Democrat nor Republican, but in this case, I cast my vote definitively on the side Mr. Rove characterized as Democrat.

As Rove mentioned, I think we need to “prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers”. After all, the Bush Regime is full of criminals and sociopaths. In light of his low key yet powerful role in the Bush dynasty, let’s put Mr. Rove behind bars and on the couch first. Perhaps Mr. Fitzgerald will accomplish that task in the near future.

Final Note:

In many previous essays, I have detailed numerous actions that a person with a social conscience can take to challenge the malefactors who are destroying our constitutional republic and wreaking havoc on the world. Now I am suggesting yet another. It is only a start, but it is simple and has a chance of success if enough people participate. I understand that it is easy to lapse into deep cynicism, but our democracy is on life support, not dead. If We the People exercise what is left of our Constitutional rights, there is a chance we can reclaim our nation. If we don’t, we have thrown in the towel and lost.

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Jason Miller is writer whose affiliations include Amnesty International and the ACLU. He welcomes responses at willpowerful@hotmail.com or comments on his blog, Thomas Paine's Corner.

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