It's Time to Say No

Like other Americans, I have been stunned by the news that the Bush administration is seriously considering the use of nuclear weapons against Iran. It is almost incomprehensible to think we've come to a point where media pundits and government officials rather glibly acknowledge that tactical nuclear weapons may be dropped on the citizens of a country which has not attacked us.

I am so ashamed that our nation--a nation that was to champion the idea of democracy and freedom--has betrayed its charter again and again. Only the legacy of the enslavement of African people can match the ugliness of what we are witnessing today: a rapid slide into fascism, wrapped in the flags of patriotism and faux Christianity.

When do we say "enough?" We have to say it soon or it will be too late. I can easily see the neocons claiming that elections in the US have to be suspended because of the extreme conditions of war. After all, the Rand Corporation prepared documents for Richard Nixon outlining how to suspend elections for just such a "noble" reason.

There will be those who smugly assert that any talk about the US utilizing nuclear weapons is just "saber rattling" and that the people who take it seriously are "conspiracy theorists." But I seem to remember it was those same people who called us the same thing when we opposed the invasion of Afghanistan and the destruction of Iraq. I have come to see the G.W. Bush explanation of the world as the true conspiracy theory: a simplistic arrangement of facts to spin millions of people into a state of terror, conveniently blinding them to the motives of their leaders.

I believe one is buying in to a major conspiracy theory when he or she accepts the fact that it is necessary to welcome the limitation of personal freedom so that a militaristic government can "protect" one. I believe a person is buying into a conspiracy theory when he or she believes that the same people who so cherish the sanctity of life that they would criminalize a woman's choice to terminate a pregnancy, are equally respectful of life as they bomb the hell out of a citizenry to bring them "democracy." And I believe that it is swallowing the biggest conspiracy pill of all time if one believes that world domination is a God-driven directive.

No, I'll stick with the facts that I see. A gluttonous 1% of America that is gorging itself on the wealth of the world. A president who smirks and blinks and acts dumb, while he denies that the world is overheating, denies that scientists should be free to share ideas internationally, champions dictators around the world so long as they comply with his capitalistic vision, and denounces and condemns democratically elected leaders who choose to use their nations' wealth to benefit their citizens rather than United States conglomerates.

I stick with the fact that a lying, cheating, double-dealing, murderous gang of lowlifes have overtaken the governing of this country and are plotting with a speed that astonishes to finish their apocalyptic, messianic (and I'll add demonic) rush to gobble up the planet.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I'm a patriotic American citizen who wants to live in a country that truly stands for freedom, human dignity, and the pursuit of scientific, artistic, and human achievement.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist when I find it more than troubling to learn that Halliburton has been given a $375 million contract to build "detention centers" across the country--which are modeled on the work camps this nation once fought to liberate.

No, the conspiracy is not in the facts, it is in the illusion that Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rice, Pearl, Powell, and the rest of the non-elected administration trash that worship and obey them, are divinely inspired leaders.

The rush to destruction is underway and must be stopped. Perhaps there will be a day when people across this nation--not in an organized fashion, but just in a human response--will stand up and say "No more."

If that day is soon, maybe it won't be too late.