30+ Years of Change?

Doing a little research this morning sparked by the latest Bush/Cheney controversy now being exposed ...... albeit as more or less of an aside, for now ...... by long respected reporter Seymour Hersh (who exposed the My Lai massacre, Pentagon Papers, Iran Contra, etc.).

I came upon this paragraph:

"They revealed that the government had knowledge, early on, that the war would not likely be won, and that continuing the war would lead to many times more casualties than was ever admitted publicly. Further, the papers showed that high-ranking officials had a deep cynicism toward the public, as well as disregard for the loss of life and injury suffered by soldiers and civilians."

Guess what that paragraph refers to .... go ahead. Sound familiar? Sure does. Could be referring to the Iraq war and Cheney, whose response to the reporter's statement that most of the United States population was against the Iraq war was ...... "SO?"

However, that paragraph does not refer to the Iraq war. It refers to the Vietnam War. It refers to the Pentagon Papers which were ultimately revealed by reporter Seymour Hersh. Hersh, who is now in the news as is Dennis Kucinich, for exposing "an executive assassination ring" which reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney's office.

This being the same Dick Cheney who publicly voiced his distaste and disdain for the citizens of his own country.

Now Dennis Kucinich is being impugned by Republicans (as is normal) for requesting an investigation into these illegal actions. They're calling him a lunatic, fraud, and worse. Once again ...... sound familiar?

It seems to me that the Republican Party is now the party of "don't upset the apple cart with the truth"! They scream "STATUS QUO .... STATUS QUO" via their actions and impugning of anyone who dares take them to task for their illegal and immoral behavior. It's the classic response of the guilty while making their attempt to retain their veil of secrecy. It's the typical teenaged tactic of using offense as your best defense. Impugn and degrade the accuser.

Nixon attempted to squash the publication of the Pentagon Papers. Cheney thought the public's desire to remove our country from an illegal, immoral war warranted a nasty "SO" as his response.

It would be easy to say, right now, a snarky "come a long way, haven't we?" But that would be too easy. I think we are about to travel a long way. At least, we have the potential now and are beginning to show signs of improvement. As we all know, change takes a long, long time.

Fortunately we have a new administration in place, working overtime to fix numerous major problems. Yes, it IS all right to say that our country has problems. The Republicans' "love it or leave it" absurdities aside, we know that it takes love, patience and very hard work to correct those things which have gone astray.

I do love my life in this country and feel that our environment and our country are worth fixing. You can't fix what you refuse to acknowledge.