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Elected By Fear, Not Reason

My heart is heavy. Shame is all I feel for our country.

The day after September 11, 2001, I read a posting by a young Muslim woman, which pissed me off! She expressed elation that Americans finally had to experience death and destruction on their own soil. How could this lady endorse violence and grief against a people that meant her no harm?

It was her opinion that the people of the United States were so far removed from the afflictions of war in the rest of the world that they lacked empathy and were indifferent to the suffering of others, notably those of another ethnicity. She believed most Americans to be spoiled, taking for granted or not caring that much of what they consumed was at the expense of foreign exploitation, poverty and human anguish. She hated that most U.S. citizens knew little to nothing of their government’s political, financial and military involvement in the international arena, particularly in the Middle East. To her, Americans obviously didn’t give a damn.

With the support of the international community, we declared a justified war against terrorists in Afghanistan. Before this necessary task could be completed and the country could be secured, however, the vindictive and greedy Bush administration took advantage of a terrified and uninformed America to "get Iraq". To make things worse, this objective was achieved by presenting false information to the people, discounting the intelligence given to us by other countries, snubbing the United Nations and alienating our allies. In less than six months, our once healthy national surplus was squandered away by war and would later become billions of dollars in deficits. The global community expressed concern and many began to see Americans as imperialist bullies.

The re-election of Bush not only confirms the international belief that we are warmongers, but will also build strong support for the terrorist community. We have now ensured that there will be a future major attack on the United States.

The Bush campaign manipulated the fear of the American people to win the election. We now have everything to fear, because of fear itself . . .

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