John Scalzi started a hell of a conversation. Join in…

I’m proud to be an American, but I’m tired of being ashamed of my government. I’m tired of having to count the seconds until this bilious waste of a president is shoved out the door in January of 2009. I’m tired of hoping that some members of the president’s political party might actually put principle over political expedience, particularly when it concerns the Constitution. And I’m tired of waiting for the opposing party to actually grow a goddamned spine and become an opposing party. I’m tired of wondering why the people we elect to lead us don’t seem to actually understand what it means to be American, and to be moral, and to do what it right for us. And I’m tired of having to look so hard for genuine leadership as opposed to the sham idiot version we have now. I feel like Diogenes, and I’m coming up short.

I’m tired of being led by moral cowards. I want better for myself, and for my country.

My Comments to John:

John, I started to comment immediately after reading your post but decided to read the comments first instead.
First, thanks for writing what you did. I agree with your sentiments. I can’t understand where this country got off track but somewhere along the line we seem to have forgotten who we are. I grew up proud to be American; proud that we didn’t do the easy thing…instead we did the right thing. Somewhere along the way we started doing the easy thing, now we can’t seem to retrace our steps back up that steep slope to the moral high ground. I think the first steps down that slope started when we decided it was easier to back corrupt dictators in our “fight” against communism…we are still following those same tracks in our new “war”. How can you explain to the people of the world that Sadam was OK in the ‘80’s but not the ‘90’s? The cat didn’t change his spots, we just changed our sunglasses. Hell over and over we back the opposition to the legally elected leaders around the world. Folks, democracy doesn’t mean America gets a veto…democracy means we get to learn to live with the governments that their populous elects.
In my humble opinion, we started sliding down this slippery slope in the days of the Nixon administration. Isn’t it kind of funny how all of the current administration seemed to have begun their political careers there?
As for Bush, I have the enviable position of sharing the Dixie Chicks’ concerns about my ex-Governor. The man I have had the privilege of voting against 4 times now. I have wondered to this day how his record as Governor was rewritten prior to 2000 and no one in the “Mainstream Media” could tell the rest of the country about it. Come on folks I’ve lived in Texas my whole life. We rank in the last 10% on every metric you wish to use for quality of life, environmental concerns, wages…oh, hell everything. And you thought a Texas Governor was going to make America better? Stronger? Get real…
I am also not very trusting of this administration. My feeling is that this “War on Terrorism” is going to come in real handy when it comes to postponing the festivities of November 2008. So forgive me if I don’t hold out much optimism for getting’ quit of these people any time soon. But I’ll be doing my part this November to try to pack the houses of government with as many friendly eyes as I can being in Texas. And I’ll be spreading the word far and wide…