Riffing on the inaugural address
Jan. 24th, 2005 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfooleI have made time to read Bush's second inaugural, because I feel that I should do more than simply write him off without hearing him out. Here are some bits that struck me, and my responses to them.
We have seen our vulnerability, and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny -- prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder -- violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders and raise a mortal threat.
There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant. And that is the force of human freedom.
We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this Earth has rights, and dignity and matchless value because they bear the image of the maker of heaven and Earth.
Rhetoric like this goes straight to my heart. I don't normally think of myself as person of faith, because I don't subscribe to any religious dogma or believe in any god, but I fell hook,line and sinker for America=Freedom as a kid (in addition to indoctrination in school, I blame Star Trek), and I am still ready to believe at the drop of a hat. I'm really moved by this. A foreign policy of justice and not expedience is very appealing, even though it will create many problems for us as the less-just do business behind our back.
"Across the generations, we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave."
Whoever wrote this has turned a phrase worthy of Lincoln. I completely agree, and I wish I had said it.
"So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary."
Here is where I stop applauding. If it's not primarily about force of arms, why did we invade Iraq? More to the point, why did you start planning to invade the moment you took office?
The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."
Man, do I wish Abraham Lincoln was still around.
I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself, and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country but to its character.
OK, not ALL of the evidence of your own eyes. Ignore the no-bid contracts to Halliburton. Ignore the disastrous consequences of abstinence-only sex education and its inherent distrust of personal choice. Just sign up and die. Because you, as a human being, matter and because we must always honor your name and sacrifice, your family will get a form letter, signed by my personal signature machine.
"Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time."
Of course, Bush is a damned hypocrite for saying this, because I can't think any way of more profoundly asserting that someone is unwanted and worthless than executing them, something Bush has done as governor of Texas dozens of times.
ETA: Oh, wait, actually I can: how about executing someone and then, after they are dead, mocking them for begging for their life? As he did about that woman, whose name escapes me, who killed a few people, found jesus, and asked for commital to life in prison. Sister Helen Prejean mentioned this in her interview in this week's (2/22/05) Time Magazine.
Oh, well, I guess it's four more years of evil cloaked in values I hold dear.
We have seen our vulnerability, and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny -- prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder -- violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders and raise a mortal threat.
There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment and expose the pretensions of tyrants and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant. And that is the force of human freedom.
We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.
America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this Earth has rights, and dignity and matchless value because they bear the image of the maker of heaven and Earth.
Rhetoric like this goes straight to my heart. I don't normally think of myself as person of faith, because I don't subscribe to any religious dogma or believe in any god, but I fell hook,line and sinker for America=Freedom as a kid (in addition to indoctrination in school, I blame Star Trek), and I am still ready to believe at the drop of a hat. I'm really moved by this. A foreign policy of justice and not expedience is very appealing, even though it will create many problems for us as the less-just do business behind our back.
"Across the generations, we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave."
Whoever wrote this has turned a phrase worthy of Lincoln. I completely agree, and I wish I had said it.
"So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary."
Here is where I stop applauding. If it's not primarily about force of arms, why did we invade Iraq? More to the point, why did you start planning to invade the moment you took office?
The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."
Man, do I wish Abraham Lincoln was still around.
I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself, and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country but to its character.
OK, not ALL of the evidence of your own eyes. Ignore the no-bid contracts to Halliburton. Ignore the disastrous consequences of abstinence-only sex education and its inherent distrust of personal choice. Just sign up and die. Because you, as a human being, matter and because we must always honor your name and sacrifice, your family will get a form letter, signed by my personal signature machine.
"Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time."
Of course, Bush is a damned hypocrite for saying this, because I can't think any way of more profoundly asserting that someone is unwanted and worthless than executing them, something Bush has done as governor of Texas dozens of times.
ETA: Oh, wait, actually I can: how about executing someone and then, after they are dead, mocking them for begging for their life? As he did about that woman, whose name escapes me, who killed a few people, found jesus, and asked for commital to life in prison. Sister Helen Prejean mentioned this in her interview in this week's (2/22/05) Time Magazine.
Oh, well, I guess it's four more years of evil cloaked in values I hold dear.
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stirring words
Date: 2005-01-26 06:25 am (UTC)It's great rhetoric that I'd love to believe. It sounds so idealistic, makes me feel part of something moral and principled. If I believed in Bush, that is.
I remember almost going for this same argument two years ago when I heard Tony Blair make it in his address to the U.S Congress. (We gave him the Congressional Medal of Honor, I think) He basically expanded the "the United States" and made it the more catholic, "western democracies," but it was the same basic idea in even more stirring language. Now *there* was a man with a good writer. [ See the transcript here: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/tblaircongressionalgoldmedal.htm ]
Sadly, it all falls apart as soon as you see a headline like this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4204913.stm
So much for America teaching the Middle East about a democratic way of life free of tyranny.
Re: stirring words
Date: 2005-01-27 05:35 pm (UTC)http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4466741