When people of the future look back on the Bush administration, they are probably going to rank it right up there with the reign of fear that McCarthy had on this nation, when, in black and white terms, if you didn’t support his views, you were a communist.
Now, the black-and-white (and equally false) standing policy is this: if you don’t like Bush, or refuse to blindly follow along with his views, then you support terrorism.
Naturally, this kind of hyperpatriotism is an easy venue to push a lot of messages down the throats of Americans and forcing them to agree, even if they have nothing remotely to do with terrorism. After September 11, it was “go out and buy something, like a new a car. Because if you don’t buy a car, then the terrorists win.” There was also the infamous “drugs support terror” campaign, which, while the message is well-intentioned, is horribly wrong.
The more dangeours messages are the political ones however. Bush is good at thinking in definitives, and after September 11, his logic was made very clear: “You’re either with us, or against us.”
And so it is on the ideological front too. If you don’t support the war in Iraq, then you support terrorism… never mind that we STILL haven’t found those pesky weapons of mass destruction yet. If you criticize Halliburton too much, you’re supporting terrorism. And now, if you don’t support Bush’s attempt at reviving the Star Wars program, then, just like a bad Jeff Foxworthy joke, you might be supporting terrorism:
President Bush promoted his administration’s plans to build an anti-missile system Tuesday, suggesting that the program’s opponents are jeopardizing the country’s safety.
Bush did not refer specifically to Democratic rival John Kerry, who has indicated he would rein in spending on the project.
“I think those who oppose this ballistic missile system don’t understand the threats of the 21st century,” the president told applauding workers at defense contractor Boeing in Pennsylvania, a crucial state in Bush’s bid for re-election.
“We say to those tyrants who believe they can blackmail America and the free world: ‘You fire, we’re going to shoot it down,”‘ Bush said.
I don’t know about you, but I think I understand the threat perfectly. Al Qaeda isn’t about pushing a Nuke button and hiding in a bunker. They are about suicide bombings, shoulder fired missles from the ground, truck bombs and the use of common items in our society – like shoes and jet airplanes as weapons. Not Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. How is a a missile defense system going to protect me against a hijacker or a shoe bomber?
And let’s assume that while we’re worried about biological warfare and anthrax and crazed muslim suicide bombers, a rival country does decide to be an aggressor and use missiles to attack the US. Well, apparently a missile defense system still won’t be of much use to us, because there’s one annoying problem: IT DOESN’T WORK. Aside from for the hypothetical analyses, actual tests have shown that the system has its serious flaws, and the lack of a success rate without serious test rigging and cheating leaves concern that we might be spending billions on a very complicated, expensive system that does nothing useful.
But hey, if we don’t build it, then we support terrorism, right?
The Bush administration also fails to point out that lots of everyday activities, from filling your gas tank, to buying jewelry, to drinking Coke up until a few years ago, finances terrorism. Yet why are these activities perfectly okay, but speaking your mind isn’t?
