You put forth a pretty bleak picture of a country that despite it's blatent flaws has in many respects promoted freedom in powerful and admirable ways. To suggest that Obama and every subsequent leader will "have blood on thier hands" doesn't promote any kind of governmental change but discourages into apathy. And why is it evil to pursue the interests of our own country? The acts of torture committed by the United States are a minor portion of overall acts carried out without violence or corruption that have promoted our interests. We can always strive to do better but we need a sense of pride in the things we have done correctly in order to have the stamina and heart neccessary to make changes. People watch 24 because no matter how unrealistic, it shows the best possible outcome of our government and inspires. Your suggestion that there is no room for innocence in geo-politics is a defeatist attitude. Shall we overthrow our government or surrender to evil geo-policies? How about niether? Lets take the largely good system that we have and try and make it better. Lets not turn our heads to the atrocities we have played a role in nor assume these atrocities are an indication of a generalized evil. There are many good Americans and not all of them will succumb to a corrupt government mainly because it's not entirely corrupt. We are still held more accountable in this country than most places in the world and we can work towards more accountability and practicing what we preach when it comes to human rights.

The prose is over the top but the basic argument is correct. The American experience in some respects is a series of events where power met opportunity.

For a great read on this topic see the recent book by Andrew Bacevich, "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism".

Bacevich is a retired Army colonel and currently a professor of history at Boston University. He lost a son in Afghanistan last spring.

Like Jetha and Ryan, he maintains that America has always had imperialistic inclinations. The Bush fiassco being one of the worst examples. But he also claims that much imperial ambition is driven by the desire to give the public what it wants. In the current case, cheap energy. He tells a pretty good story that resonates with me.

BTW, Bacevich is a classically defined conservative.

Thanks for acknowledging my comment. I was asking for suggestions out of curiosity sparked by your blog, not suggesting the blog was incomplete without such follow-up. Although you did not use the term "evil" it was not a large leap given the topic of "torture" and your use of the phrase "blood on our hands."

There is a direct link between a nation having a corrupt political agenda and the people of that nation having high rates of death and suffering. The fact that we still "whine" about the loss of 3000 American lives highlights a political culture sustaining of admirable respect for it's people, not an egotistical disregard for the suffering of others.

I believe you erroneously equate America and The US Government. Yes, the government has often bumbled and harmed people both in and out of America, all in the name of security. However, America does continue to be a beacon for human rights compared to almost any country except the the Scandinavian ones (but I would exempt them from on the basis of their greater homogeneity).

A melting pot like America needs to balance order with coercion, and while I agree that the US government can and ought to curtail its coercion both in and outside, our two-party system of government so far saddles us with either Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

Egos don't seem to mix well with anything. Not with politics. Not with religion. They're not conducive to life.

Perhaps I'm far too innocent to ever understand violence.

I hope that never changes.

This weekend I took a much needed break to take in some nature and art. I admired the art from different street vendors and spent some time taking in the ocean and felt refreshed and inspired.

I bought some bumper stickers for my car. The first said, "COEXIST" with all of the letters being made of different religious and gender symbols, perhaps you've seen it. The next said, "Make love, not war" with a heart/peace sign. The next said "Create Peace" with a dove. The next was a picture of Einstein with a quote that said something like, "Peace can never be achieved through force, but by understanding."

I put the stickers on my car and headed home. I accidentally missed my exit and decided to take the long way home. After a while, traffic started slowing, and I noticed an old, lone veteran standing outside of a veteran's memorial park on the sidewalk holding a sign saying, "No Public Park". I wasn't sure why he was there at first.

Then I started seeing them.. Waves of people all heading the same direction wearing various flags of their countries, or in traffic with various religious symbols drawn onto the back of their car windows, waving various flags outside of their car windows..

Coexisting...

The intersection I was approaching was blocked off in the direction of the huge gathering in the distance. The traffic light was out and instead of directing traffic there were three police officers with their backs to the traffic-chaos watching to ensure the demonstration was remaining peaceful, I suppose.

Despite 5 lane roads approaching this intersection in each direction, and despite the fact that it took a really long time to move anywhere, no one was honking or getting angry with each other..

It was nice.

A few days later I noticed that the COEXIST sticker was missing from my back bumper. I began wondering if I hadn't put it on well enough, and it had blown off. Then I wondered if someone had taken it either out of admiration or the more unfortunate, out of distaste for one of the symbols. I imagined all of the personal motivations or nature-made reasonings for my sticker being gone.

Then I realized the irony of the whole thing. I was asking the question, "WHO" or "WHAT". The better question is of course, "does it matter"? My sticker is just gone. So, now what? The world is just screwed up. So, now what? We need to keep our focus on the solutions..

I appreciate you both for "keeping it real" and for all of the work you do in support of a better world.

Compassion, understanding, peace, and creativity,
YG

"The fact is that the fairy tale version of America
enacted by the despicable Kiefer Sutherland and the
rest of people responsible for "24," is an unfunny
joke to the rest of the world."

So true, Keifer Sutherland really is despicable,
thank you for coming out and saying it!

"it's pretty clear that nothing at all will come of
it in terms of serious legal consequences. Why?
Because the only substantive difference between
the questionable acts of the Bush administration
and previous administrations is the openness with
which they were undertaken."

Criminals will always do their best to keep their
crimes covered up, and of course, the more rich
and powerful the criminal, the greater their chances
of getting away with it. The difference really
is their openness (once exposed). With such a large
portion of the electorate supporting torture,
and the Jack Bauer ethos of "whatever it takes",
it's no wonder that Bush and co. are pretty confident
of getting away with it all.