United States of Apathy
My friend Jason Lefkowitz wrote a great post the other day called “Where is America?”. You should check it out. Jason wonders where the public outcry is over President Bush’s penchant for domestic wiretapping. He’s looking for that “Don’t Tread On Me“ spirit that prompted the colonies to whup some imperial ass so many years ago. I’m looking for it too. If they impeached President Clinton for lying about his personal indiscretions, why are people not more outraged that Bush has authorized actions that fly in the face of our Constitution.
I wonder about these things and they make me very angry when I do, yet I don’t really wonder about them very often. Why not? A quote from Jason’s post sums it up quite nicely for me.
Can we rouse ourselves from our satellite TV and XBox 360 long enough to reaffirm the most basic tenet of the American creed: that unrestrained power is incompatible with the maintenance of a free republic?
Apparently not. It seems Americans are too fat and sassy now in this Age of Excess to really care much about things that don’t affect them. I’m not throwing stones in a glass house here. I live in the glass house. It’s nice and shiny and full of neat things to distract me from how messed up everything is. And I suspect like most Americans, I spend my time in that glass house working, surfing the web, watching TV, talking to my friends, hanging out with my spouse, and doing anything but spend a lot of time worrying about what our government is up to these days.
I’m not proud of this by any means, but the evidence seems to suggest that I really don’t care that much, and that I’m not alone. Why not?
For me personally, I think it’s that none of these big issues affect my day-to-day life in any meaningful way. I didn’t know anyone who was killed on 9/11. I don’t know anyone serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. The price of gas these days is annoying, but I’m still traveling just as much as I used to. The government isn’t spying on me as far as I know - though I guess I wouldn’t know, would I? - but even if they were, I don’t have anything to hide, save my interest in Asian midget cheerleader porn and Hello Kitty. Okay, that last part was a joke. I don’t dig on Hello Kitty.
It’s not that I don’t have strong opinions on any of these things. I do. I thought Afghanistan was the right thing to do. I think Iraq is one of the worst decisions a US President has ever made. The domestic wiretapping thing is just another outrageous erosion of our civil liberties in a long line of outrageous erosions of our civil liberties this administration has sought since it came into power.
It makes me sick when I think about all of these things, but therein lies the rub: when I think about them. When do I think about them? Mostly when I’m watching or reading the news, and every now and then when talking about it to someone. None of these activities make up a major portion of my day, and I suspect it’s the same for many other Americans.
So where does that leave us? Probably screwed. Just like 9/11 or Katrina, we won’t really care until something catastrophic happens. When gas is $20.00 a gallon. When there is no more oil. When we’re all speaking Chinese in 15 years. When we start throwing people in jail for speaking out against the government. When the economy collapses under the weight of the crushing debt Bush has put on our collective shoulders. When we’re all dying from bird flu.
So where is America? Where are the people that rose up in the face of tyranny to make this country great? We’re still here, but we’re too fat to do that anymore.
We suck.
I suck.
I know that I’m part of the problem, and GI Joe once told me that knowing is half the battle. Now it’s time for me to work on the other half. The hard one. Even if I only do something small, it has to be better than the nothing I’m doing right now.
I’ll start as soon as I finish the new XBox game I got for Christmas.
Exactly which of your civil liberties have been eroded during this administration? The reason their is not a major outcry is that we are at war and we have a history of presidents who have wiretapped…from FDR to Carter, Nixon to Clinton. I think we will find that the laws will be ammended to handle the new age of technology where courts cannot always be notified within 72 hours. We shall see. I will agree with you that most Americans do not care and I do believe most of them are Democrats. A perfect example are the Democrats ruling in our nation’s capital. They have continued to criticize Mr. Bush yet have yet to come up with any solutions to Iraq or how they would deal with terrorism. Oh wait, Kerry did try to tackle the terrorism issue…he wanted to treat them like criminals. Nice try, Mr. Kerry- they want to cut our throats and you want to slap an arrest warrant on them. Nice.
Um, what game are you playing?
"I will agree with you that most Americans do not care and I do believe most of them are Democrats."
Thanks for reminding me of another reason for my apathy and why I rarely post about anything political: it’s difficult to have a civil political discussion anymore without one side or the other immediately resorting to "us vs. them" name-calling.
There are Democrats that support what the President is doing in Iraq just as there are Republicans that don’t. It’s not even really that simple. Each of us support some things that are happening in Iraq while we don’t support others.
It’s the same with every issue. Nothing is black and white, but all the talking heads on TV would have you believe that everything is a simple love it or hate it decision. Everything is boiled down to a few choice opposing sound bites that two "pundits" can use as fodder in their latest cockfight with each other on "Today" or "Meet the Press".
Responsible journalism has been replaced by pro wrestling. Just as we are to blame for the apathy that is so prevalent today, so too are the media, who have helped devolve the tenor of public discourse in this country to that of a Jerry Springer episode.
To answer your civil liberties question, I present the Patriot Act as Exhibit A. Provision 213 allows for "surreptitious search warrants and seizures upon a showing of reasonable necessity and eliminates the requirement of Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure that immediate notification of seized items be provided." These warrants can come from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which have no public records like a federal or state court would. Furthermore, the government doesn’t even have to notify you if they are investigating you via one of these warrants.
The act also allows the goverment to obtain a warrant from a secret court to investigate business records of anyone who is part of a terrorism or spying investigation. Again, the government is not required to notify you if you are being investigated.
Before the Patriot Act, there were stronger checks and balances in place that prevented the government from investigating us without our knowledge. After the Patriot Act, our privacy is now "protected" by a secret court with no public accountability.
Secret warrants with no public paper trail? No opportunity to even be notified that the government is investigating you? A government with the right to secretly snoop through your library records? That doesn’t sound like America to me.
Actually, I think it is black and white.
Our government is the Peter Principle is in full effect.
TJ said it best:
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
There is no fear in Washington, because we the people don’t care.
Unfortunately, the division between the parties have caused much of the apathy. I would love to know the members of the Democratic party that support the President? Aside from Joe Lieberman, I cannot pull out any other member that had voiced their support. Please don’t cite Democrats who voice their support for the troops yet backhand the President with their public displeasure of the War. This does nothing but hurt our troops in Iraq and embolden the enemy. The terrorists are very smart. They see division within our country and prey upon it fueling their motives. John Kerry continues to use language that strengthens the cause of the terrorists- the Sedition Act should have been enacted a long time ago.
As for the Republicans who do not support the President it can easily be viewed by an outsider that these members are in the middle of an election year and fear the loss of their jobs. That is sad. The President didn’t do this without the support of both houses. When the Iraq war ended in ‘91 it did so with the contingency that Saddam obey the outlines measured in the UN Resolutions. He consistently ignored those resolutions and also in conspiring with UN members traded his oil for money. Where is the outrage? He was given an option for this war not to happen. The WMD reason to go into Iraq was supported by Kerry, both Clintons, Tony Blair and Putin- all stating in their belief that Saddam possessed WMD’s.
Has the Patriot Act directly had an impact on you? I know the provisions…they have thwarted many attacks during the last few years according to the FBI and Homeland Security. The abolishment of the Patriot Act would be an incredible mistake.
I couldn’t agree with you more, JG. Americans need to wake up and … hey! Let’s ride bikes!
To put aside the ADD jokes for a moment, I have to call out Boxer for trying to blame Democrats.
In case you haven’t been keeping score, Democrats don’t "rule" the nation’s capital. The GOP controls the Executive branch, the Judicial branch, and BOTH houses of Congress. The only thing comical about this is how ineffective Republicans are in spite of all this.
Anytime anyone points out Bush’s disregard for the Constitution, suddenly its someone else’s fault. I bet its all conspiracy of Kerry, Teddy Kennedy, and Hillary. And Michael Moore too, that fat America-hating bastard.
Whatever.
Where did I blame the Democrats? I believe I cited menmbers of the Democratic Party that initially supported the President in going to Iraq and now are taking a completely different view- worse of all expressing those views publically which are emboldening the insurgents in Iraq. I also believe I was critical of the Republicans. They are not publically commenting in such a way Mr. Kerry has recently but they too backed the President and now are vacillating because of the upcoming mid-term elections. These Republicans deserve to lose their seats. If the oppossing party is so strongly against the situation in Iraq as they say, why have they not come up with any plan of their own. All they continue to do is criticize the President on all fronts yet this party as a whole does not have any direction or ideas of their own.
I also agree with you that the so-called Republicans in both Houses have been ineffective. Frist is a joke and having to worry about first passing Roberts and now Alito
through to the Supreme Court shows how weak a leader he is. Alito much like Roberts should be a layup due considering the Republican majority.
As far as Bush’s so-called disregard for the Constitution he much like Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter have also used wiretapping without approval of the FSA courts. Let us not forget we are at War. Let us wait for the full story to develop since the Times decided to reveal this undercover operation. I cannot imagine the US winning WWII today under the current atmosphere regarding the press in America and how easily it looks to criticize a sitting President.
War? Either I was out the day Congress officially declared war or you’re buying into the media spin. All I’ve seen is this phony "war on terror," which is another way of saying "war on our civil liberties," or perhaps "war on Bush’s critics."
Every president gets criticized. It comes with the office. Bush is no different than Clinton, Bush I, Reagan, Carter, and on and on. Calling something a "war" doesn’t change that.
If some presidents deserve to have FORTY MILLION DOLLARS of taxpayer money spent to investigate sexual indescretions, its time to tee off an investigation into potential violations of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
Media Spin? You’re kidding right? The major networks have a left-wing agenda- that cannot be argued. The New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, etc. CNN & MSNBC too. If you do not see a WAR out there than that is the problem that some people are having right now. Do you think everything ended on 9/11?
What do you think happened in France a few months back? ( a country by the way that has turned its back on "the war"- thinking that appeasing terrorists is the way to operate). The country was consumed by riots. The major media barely covered the events and when they did they attributed the violence to restless youth groups. Yes, they were youth groups but what the media did not report was that these groups were Arab/Muslim youths. France has not learned from its history- you cannot appease anyone especially a people that want to change the way you live.
If you do not think we are at war than that is what you believe. This is what I stated in my earlier emails…there are many that want to treat these events as police actions. Trying to round up these "criminals" and punish them in a judical manner. Was the attack on our country on 9/11 not an act of war? I agree with Jamie…there are too many consumed by their Xboxes and daily lives to actually see what is happening out there.
I also agree with you that regarding the taxpayer money but I laugh when sexual indescretion comes up discussing that President. He lied to a grand jury. He was disbarred. Bring on any investigation as to whether the the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution comes into play regarding the current state of affairs.
It will be interesting to see if Hillary wants to trump up any charges because she is shrewd. She wants the Presidency but is smart enough to know that if she lumps herself in with the "left-wing" of her party she will come off looking weak in how she wants to fight terror. John Kerry learned his lesson and has absolutely no shot a second time around. The country realizes as a whole that we are fighting a war. Anyone living in a major metroplitan city is reminded of this everyday.
Okay. A terrorist attack on two major buildings could qualify as an act of war. I’ve said all along that we should have gone in and kicked Saudi Arabia’s butt. But I suppose I can excuse Bush for getting confused and thinking it was Afghanistan or Iraq that attacked us. Being president is "hard work," you know. Its not as easy as clearing brush.
Last I heard, the French riots were about poverty and powerlessness. Pretty much what most riots are about.
Everyone knows France is a bunch of pussies, anyway. Cheese-eating surrender monkeys! Except for that one time they aided the American colonies in our fight for independence from Britian (or were we actually "terrorists?" I tell ya, I lose track sometimes!). Oh, and there is that Statue of Liberty thing, too.
Thanks for bringing up how liberal the media is! Why if it weren’t for Fox News, NBC, MSNBC, Bob Woodward (Washington Post), Judith Miller (NY Times), Clear Channel Communications (the entire radio dial plus all the country’s billboards), Hannity and Colmes, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, Michelle Malkin, the Weekly Standard, the Washington Times, and the National Review among others, why we’d NEVER hear anything positive about Bush.
This was fun, Boxer. I’d love to stay and chat but my XBox is waiting.
when do we get to talk about Dancing with the Stars Season 2?
For the record NBC and MSNBC are far from delivering objective news. We are talking about a network (NBC) that employs Katie Couric, Tim Russert and MSNBC that starts off their evening news programming with Chris Matthews who turns it over to Keith Olbermann…please- far cries from standard journalism here. Oh, I’m not disagreeing you with you regarding FOX- that is the one outlet that actually tries to present both sides accuratley. Hannity is too much of a flag bearer for the Republican Party and quite frankly hurts the (conservative) cause as far as I’m concerned. Although you do not have to admit it, the major media companies including Hollywood have a subjective political agenda and that is to promote in anyway they can Democratic ideals- whatever they are?
The French riots were a result of everything you mentioned plus the underlying root of Arab/Muslim unrest in a country that is in a lot of trouble down the road. The Islamic fundamentalists have Spain under their thumb already and have started to impose themselves on the French. What European country is next???
The comments regarding Afghanistan doesn’t need much acknowlegement. The Taliban backed rule aided and abetted Bin Laden and his terrorist training camps. The Taliban got what they deserved and now Afghanistan’s men, women and children can now live a life of hope in a country that provided no hope at all just a few years back.
Let the countdown to Dancing with the Stars 2 begin…
we have become a nation that like any other empire started out with freedom. we have gone from liberty & justice for all into a people that are sluggish & are easily swayed to believe that war is wrong to protect our freedom. We are a great nation now teetering on our last step of falling like every other empire did before us.
Agreed…apathetic country…work place down the tubes…Monday has started with various forms of stupidity. Mostly all around people not wanting to do work if the layers were to be pealed away.
Back to my hypothesis on what the hell is going on this country. Where has the work ethic gone? Where has the compassion gone? To India? China? Bangladesh?
People come to work for a pay check, do as little as possible while at work and do not really even care if co-workers/peers know they are slackers that haven’t done a complete and appropriate job/product/work, etc. So then you have the next worker come in behind that one with a job left not done at all, half done, or done in such a ridiculous manor that it must be done all over by the next person. So now the next person is resentful, annoyed and mad that that worker has the balls to function so slug-like and gets away with it day in and day out with no repercussions. So now the next worker resolves to not work as hard as he or she may feel they should, would like to and have done for years b/c why should they if other workers get away with working so half assed or not at all. For the people who actually do have a work ethic and compassion but do not want to continue to be “used” in the face of others who do not perform productively…they start to back off, this makes that person listless, unhappy, unproductive, etc w/ their job and performance. Then the cycle continues each time the next worker comes in….AWFUL!!