Chapterhouse

It wouldn't surprise me if most of the liberal and moderate members of the blogosphere are experiencing PTSD* - I know I am!

Not only was the first Bush "election" stolen in a state where Bush's brother just happened to be the governor and the secretary of state his campaign manager, but the country elected him to a second term so as not to change horses in the middle of the war.

Finally we got a chance to be heard by an administration that ignored us, and last November we put the opposing party in control of Congress - in fact, Democrats were swept into office all over the country.

So what happened after November? Not much. The war still goes on. It is still funded. Neither have impeachment proceedings have been brought. Anyone who speaks out against the war and the administration is still labeled unpatriotic.

Just look at the losses our country has suffered since Bush came into office.

The tax cuts wiped out the surplus the Clinton administration left us. That was before 9/11, yet even today, people think we're in debt because of 9/11, not because of the administration's actions.

Just like even today, people still think Iraq had something to do with 9/11.

The Taliban is regaining its strength in Afghanistan, and al Qaeda now has a foothold in Iraq, a country in which it was not allowed to operate before we invaded. Osama bin Laden walks free.

The number of allied soldiers' death long ago surpassed those lost in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania.

We don't even know the number of Iraqis who have died, but it is estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

Their country is trashed. Some areas get electricity maybe twice a day. Some areas don't even have potable water. We neglected our own infrastructure (Katrina, bridge collapse), and apparently intend to continue to ignore it because "no new taxes" has become a "patriotic" mantra. Now, we are spending billions to rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure (which we destroyed in the first place). But guess what? The money can't be accounted for! And the work that has been done is so shoddy it has to be torn down. Oh - and there were no bids on that work, either, because it just happened to go to cronies of the Vice President of the United States.

If this was the plot of a novel, no one would believe it.

Where was I? Oh yes, losses. Let's see, habeas corpus. Who would have imagined us losing that? From the time we entered grade school, were we not taught that one reason this country was founded was so that the state couldn't lock people up without charging them with a crime? And that when they were charged with a crime, they were guaranteed legal representation? And a fair trial?

And Bush goes on TV again the other night and tells us that the surge is working, and that the progress made in Iraq is satisfactory, when every independent report shows exactly the opposite.

And they're making noises now about Iran, when our military is stretched to the breaking point!

Does anyone even mention the recommendations made by the Hamilton-Baker Report anymore? Not one of them has been followed.

I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. We've all blogged our hearts out over this stuff.

I will still continue because I don't know what else to do (I mean, of course, besides vote and sign petitions and call and write my senators and congresspersons and otherwise protest.)

It's just that now I realize that I'm suffering from PTSD, and I suspect that I'm not the only one. I wake up in the morning thinking about the state of this country. Just today I was saying how glad I am that I don't have children who will have to live in this fascist state that America is becoming, then immediately I felt guilty for even thinking that. Shouldn't the futures of other people's children be just as important to me? And speaking of children, I remember the soldiers over there fighting right now - they are just babies! Eighteen, nineteen years old being subjected to horrors, and for what? For the religious delusions of madmen - Bush, Rove, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and bin Laden. I lose sleep, toss and turn, I tear up over the news. I dread what new blunder Bush will make next - bomb Iran? South America? How badly will he screw up next time he needs to respond to some event, like, say, when Castro dies? And what about his Islamic counterpart, bin Laden? Is another 9/11 coming our way? And will Bush use that to seize all powers to stay in office if it does? Yes, he can do that now.

I'm not sure how coherent this post is - I started out trying to write about PTSD, then got on another rant. My point was this: Is it just me, or aren't we all suffering emotionally now that this has gone on for so many years? How is it affecting the rest of you?

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*In no way do I mean to minimize the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder suffered by our soldiers returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, because there is no comparison to what they're experiencing.