Muse – No News Wednesday Mini-Manifesto

It’s a no news sort of day, with pressing work just finished for me and an open spot to settle in and relax for a few.

Ever wonder about the sort of people who seem to take personal offense that you’d ever question the president? I do. Do they grasp the sort of betrayal that that sort of thinking is to the true American ideal?

Invariably such people start to point out how much better off we are than people in other nations. As if the state of free speech in Saudi Arabia has something to do with whether or not I should speak out against an elected official. Last time I looked, we don’t compare ourselves to the standards set by other nations. The sort who bash on dissent against the president tend to be the sort to growl about comparing American to any other nation, especially when pointing out how another nation dose something better.

They also make it a point to guilt trip you with mentioning how our armed forces are in harms way and how they’ve paid in sacrifice for the rights we all hold dear. As if I’ve somehow forgotten everything I learned in social studies and forgotten that the US has fought in wars that have claimed far too many lives.

I don’t know about my readers, but I’m not some simpleton who has forgotten such things. I don’t defame, spit on or disrespect our armed forces. I make it a point to note that I bear then no ill will for the things that irk me. I know where to point the finger. Right up to the top. I remember and feel the gravity of the sacrifices made, that’s why I have taken to relishing my freedoms and seeing to my rights and responsibilities.

Such as my responsibility to make noise when I think things are going the wrong way. Anyone who would still their tongue in a time like this, simply out of unconditional loyalty to any one man is a fool. Plain and simple. On the battlefield, that might fly because eof immediate danger, but back here in the homeland, we have the luxury of thinking beyond moment to moment and musing the rightness or wrongness of the actions that we’re undertaking. It is our right and responsibility as Americans to question, to consider and to decide if we believe things are going properly. And if not, it is our responsibility to speak up for change when we believe it necessary. Dissent worked for our forefathers and what is good for the goose is good for the gander, wouldn’t you say?

The president may be the commander in chief, but in my book no one is assigned trust or respect. They have to earn it. I knew all of nothing about Bush before he went for Prez. So he had a clean slate with me. And over the last four years, issues about Iraq aside, he’s shown me that he doesn’t have a vision for American consistent with mine. Even had Iraq not become the political football that it is, it’s unlikely I would have voted for Bush, based on his economic, social and environmental policies mingled with several character judgments I’ve made over the years. He’s not earned any but my most basic respect, nor my trust.

I’ll not ask permission to exert my opinion and I sure as heck won’t allow anyone else to shout me down from what rights have been earned by those who came before me. To be silent would be to make their sacrifices meaningless. Whether or not freedom rings, my voice won’t be silenced.

Neither should yours.