Bush Lies

Earlier this year Bush supporters were outraged that a MoveOn.com contestant dared illustrate similarities between Bush’s words and those used by Adolf Hitler. It was a mini-firestorm of outrage and accusation that soon gave way to the next controversy. I haven’t forgotten it, though, mainly because the similarities are too frighteningly similar. I don’t think Bush is a Nazi. He’s no Adolf Hitler. But he and his administration may be as dangerous to America’s security and civil liberties as the Nazis were in Germany.

The cabal that stole the presidency in 2000 has lied, manipulated public opinion and made every effort to expand government’s ability to spy upon Americans and limit time honored liberties. And that’s just at home. Internationally, the Bush Administration is the ultimate rogue state. But unlike the rogue states and terrorist organizations that Bush claims to protect against, the US is able to assert its will against all others, at least in the short run, creating major mayhem in the process. The world did not want Gulf War II but we invaded Iraq anyway. Iraqis may have been pleased to be rid of Saddam Hussein, but our ill conceived occupation has failed to restore their security even as it heaps insult and hostility on them. Much of the world sees the U.S. as dangerous these days.

But what most bothers me and reminds me of Hitler’s Germany is Bush’s manipulating the public. Josef Goebbels knew the power of the Big Lie. And the Bush Cartel has used that weapon extensively. Bush tells the lies that Americans want to believe. We invaded Iraq only in self defense. Weapons of mass destruction are still to be found in Iraq. Only opponents of democracy oppose our occupation in Iraq. The administration repeats these mantras over and over. The overwhelmingly conservative media (America’s equivalent to a state run media) amplify this message. In the meantime, reality moves in a completely different direction. Americans and Iraqis die, hostility grows and the goal of a stable, democratic Iraq grows more distant.

Not that Bush is the first American president to lie or distort the truth to fit his version of reality. Manipulating opinion goes back a long way in American history and has had a particularly egregious history since World War II. But the Bush administration seems to be more comprehensive in the scope of its ambitions to control America and the world. The world must accommodate itself to America’s needs, not unlike the arguments put forth by Germany in the Thirties. And Americans must sacrifice liberty for security. Again, I hear totalitarian echos in these words. We are engaged in a titanic struggle with evil, with The Other. Any criticism endangers our troops and weakens America in this time of peril.

It all reminds me of 1984. Permanent war. Big Brother. A cowed citizenry. Back in the 50's and 60's I always thought the threat was external. I’m older and wiser now. The danger that George Orwell warned about was not from the outside. It came from within. We’ve been at risk almost since he wrote his prophetic words but the Bush Cartel has brought us to a totalitarian precipice. I fear that Americans will not see the danger before we step into the abyss.