United We Stand... for what?

It has long been an accepted fact of life that the U.S. not only condones but also practices the torture of political prisoners. While President George Bush, Cabinet members and members of Congress decry the human rights violations of other nations, they are not nearly so critical of those violations when perpetrated under their orders.

The cover on the U.S. as the world’s beacon of morality has long since been blown, yet Mr. Bush and his cohorts continue to act as if it were a reality, and many Americans, like lemmings, follow his lead. The facts that are such an anathema to Mr. Bush seem to receive the same reaction from many U.S. citizens. Yes, they might say, the U.S. invades sovereign nations; indiscriminately slaughters the men, women and children of those nations; tortures their captured prisoners; ignores the needs of its own soldiers and their loved ones, often causing their families at home to live in poverty, and discarding wounded soldiers to a more or less indifferent veterans’ health care system; bankrupts the nation as it destroys another one, but it is still the greatest country in the world.

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P.S. This post is in response to the many "United We Stand" flag decals Americans proudly display on their cars... without much consideration of what we actually stand for as a nation these days. But 'good', 'patriotic' Americans aren't supposed to think, right? They're just supposed to react as programmed.