Let me tell you why this blog is named More Patriotic Than Your Daddy. I'll need to start by explaining why those who run around constantly crowing that this is the best nation on earth are a danger to our national security. I listened to Michael Medved today and was unable to get through to air my response, so here is a good place to get the ideas out (wihout being interrupted or condescended to).

Idiots like Michael Medved, Rush Limbaugh, and whatsisname Savage spend their hours on the air baiting liberals to call them, then deriding the people pissed off enough to fall for their shtick. They invariably pose questions like Mr. Medved's today:"Do you think America is too powerful?" and then with the shakiest of logic impose some trap upon the answer: Medved's trap was that a yes answer meant you hate America, and a no answer was of course correct because your own country can never be too powerful and we have only used our military as a force for good over the past 50 years.

Of course, their arguments are crap and rest ultimately upon the assertion that our GDP is more important than human life abroad; but more dangerous is the oversimplification of complex issues, the polarization into 'right' and 'wrong' and creation of false categories and associations. If I don't want my country to dominate the world militarily, I hate America? Can't I be a proud American and be critical of how we have used our military? The Purtians, our forefathers, refused military service outright. These talk show pundits are dangerous precisely because they promise an ignorant listening audience the truth, and then feed them a bunch of horseshit, topped off with some pap that sounds patriotic- my country is the greatest- while what they are really doing is perpetuating the arrogance and colonialism that fuels terrorism against us. Then they flat out state that the people who disagree with them 'love Osama' and 'hate America'. This is facist rhetoric that seeks to impose conformity on public opinion through a combination of blind, unquestioning dedication to country, and the brainwashed belief that our country is always right.

Now to the issues. Is America too powerful? First of all, it's the wrong question. The issue is not how much power the US has, but how that power is used.

One of the main reasons 9-11 happened was as a response to our military support of and presence in Saudi Arabia. The regime there is corrupt and tyrannical and has no more regard for human rights than the Taliban did. So, a dolt like Medved would challenge, should we simply leave and let the 'Islamo-facists' take over Saudi Arabia? Or invade Saudi Arabia? OF course, neither will happen because they are a good trading partner, and according to Micheal, good trade is simply good for everyone. Medved would never acknowledge a third possibility, that of diplomacy desinged to pressure the Saudis to democratize peacefully, and simultaneous efforts lessen our dependence on oil by moving toward renewable energy (solar panels over 1/3 of Nevada's desert could power the whole nation), or more efficient use of our existing supply- for example, through a big push toward electric vehicles, which are already in limited use but largely unavailable to the public. No, because his world is black and white, good and evil, my way or the highway- devoid of any recognition of the grey areas and complications of reality. One which he imagines either as like Bush calls it, or a medieval hell controlled by Islamo-facist-commies.

Medved also feels our support of Pinochet and toppling of the elected government in Chile was justified because it prevented a Communist takeover. And Communism is Bad and our efforts against it were therefore unquestionably good, and I bet he includes Vietnam in that. Now, conceivably, if much of the world had become Communist and allied itself with Russia, we could have faced a difficult trading environment or even military threat. The cold war was based on some degree of rationality, even if that was then extended to paranoia at home and exploited for narrow economic gain abroad, wasting the lives of US soldiers and countless innocent civilians. Besides which, Communism still exists. Sure, the major military threat of Russia is now hobbled as a corrupt and economically bankrupt farce of democracy, but we are actively trading with China and Vietnam- not because capitalism breeds democracy, like some trojan Mickey Mouse with a Thomas Jefferson stowed inside, but precisely because globalized capitalism doesn't care what kind of government you have, as long as it is stable and ready to trade. We have supported dictators and stifled democratic elections across the globe for that very reason- claiming that such regimes were better than the Communist or Islamist alternatives the people voted for.

That brings me to one basic difference between my beliefs and the neo-conservative fools: Like Governor Bush (must-see clip: Bush v. Bush), I believe in the rights of sovreign states to self-determinism, even if it does not immediately lead to Western-style democracy. That is, if a people wish to run their country as a theocracy (Algeria), as a Communist state (Chile or a number of others in Central America), it is their right to choose that path. I also believe that eventually such systems will lose to our own version of democracy, the more secular and capitalist sort, because they do not maximize individual freedom. But democracy must grow from the roots- it cannot be stapled or grafted on. Like a fever, Communism ran it's course in Russia. It toppled under its own weight, not as a result of our intervention. Islamic fundamentalism is bound to do the same.

It is precisely because I have confidence in our military, and our democratic allies in NATO, and the forum of the UN, that I feel we can handle whatever threat might arise as a result of allowing people to run their own countries. Pre-emption is insane, and the first step towards disaster for our nation- the world will not tolerate an empire. Everywhere a Western military goes in the middle-east, terror follows. Talk about not reading your history books!

The other basic difference in our beliefs is that our military has always been used for good. The most convincing arguments for this sort of thinking are those that track the number of democrat nations over time, or the GDP of nations over time, and say: in such and such a region over the last 50 years, democracy and wealth have been increasing. And the question then has to be: what kind of democracy, and at what cost? Many of the countries that currently claim to be democratic suffer from widespread election fraud and corruption; and GDP give no real indication of the distribution of wealth in a nation or the quality of life of its people. This kind of simpistic bullshit won't fool anyone with a half-decent education, and that's why assertions that we are providing great trade by buying Saudi oil or Ecuadoran roses misses the point. Jobs and dollars, yes. But what quality, and at what cost? Preventing communist regimes, perhaps. But at what cost? The reality is that the death squads we funded in Central America, the carpet bombing of Laos and Cambodia, the Iran-Contra adventure, the Vietnam war (pardon the lack of chronology) killed thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians, who didn't even know what a Communist was. And to argue that the life of a Guatemalan farmer is better today than it would have been under a Communist regime is pure speculation. My tax dollars buy death abroad to protect my trade interests; but to Medved's ilk, their deaths are a good value. an acceptable cost, because they enable trade, and of course because they aren't American deaths. That would be unacceptable.

I say, 3,000 deaths my ass. We have killed a lot more than Al Qaeda in pursuit of our vision of utopia over the years, and reserve the right to lob bombs into other nations at our discretion; Libya, Lebanon, Sudan, we never declared war, just dropped a few bombs. That's our right, but we are shocked when someone attacks our city? I agree Islamic extremism is even more insane than the Christian flavor, for reasons I'll elaborate on later; but I'll tell you now that 9-11 was simply a vote of dissent from a people whose destiny our nation's policies determine, yet who have no say over those policies. And if we continue to meddle in foreign governments by supporting repressive leaders or toppling those we dislike, we will certainly face more attacks in the future. Our troops lives will be wasted for the narrow economic self-intrest of our nation's elite, as they were in the failed wars against Communism, and our nation will never be secure.

And to those who unabashedly claim to have the truth: there is a reason why pride is, in the Bible, a sin. Unfortunately, the left needs to take the offensive and get some shrill and unreasonable voices going on their own radio stations, because this war will be fought also here at home, for the hearts and minds of the voters who have the potential to either continue the quest for world domination, or pull back to a rational policy of diplomacy. I don't want the cool, reasoned voices of NPR anymore. I want my own Savage, my own O'Reilly, out there taking on armchair conservatives and making them look as stupid as they really are in their smug, comfortable, ignorant bubbles of feel-good patriotism. Let them call up and be forced to answer pointed questions, site sources, claim to give a shit about humanity beyond their backyards or admit for all to see that they plainly don't.

I'm more patriotic than your conservative daddy because I value our soldiers enough to not spill their blood for dubious threats, narrow economic interests or grandiose academic schemes. I am the real patriot because I believe in a democracy where different political opinions can be not only aired without shouting, but be respected without being denigrated as anti-American or threatened with violence. And I am the real patriot because our founding fathers, who rebelled against an empire, certainly had no vision of establishing their own. I am the real patriot because I demand our military demonstrate the true beneficence of our nation, as one that respects human life, by ending the use of indiscriminate killers like mines, cluster bombs and nuclear weapons. And I am a patriot because I demand that if my country continually improve and evolve, not backslide into WWII racism and McCarthyist witchhunts. Your daddy is dead wrong, dumb as a sheep, and he can suck my Pinko Commie Islamo Facist America-hating faggot peacnik dick. Let Medved air that one.

One of the purposes of this blog is to unload all the rants I've saved up during this whole WAR ON TERROR bullshit. So here's a blast from the past- remember when some of our troops got captured during the war?

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Yesterday, I saw the video of the American soldiers captured and killed in Iraq. I wish the best for them and for their families. No one should be subjected to the death and terror of war. Saddam is indeed an evil man whose regime employs torture far more commonly and openly than our own; I pray for their safe return, and the safe return of all our dedicated troops to their families. I pray, too, for the Iraqis; American bombs are the most devastating in the world, and dead Iraqi civilians already far outnumber our military losses.

There has been, in rah-rah "kick ass USA" circles, an indignant response to images of our boys suffering. The 'we didn't deserve this', 'this is anoutrage' attitude dovetails nicely with the ignorant notion that we were suddenly and reluctant dragged into the middle east after 9/11. Or, to put it on a level the regular George can understand, like a schoolyard bully who's taken aback by a solid blow from a much smaller foe. Don't be surprised if you invade a country, and they fight back! How would we have reacted to invading Iraqis in our streets?

To those few Americans who bought this insanity all along, let me share what flashed into my mind after my prayers: You want a war? You got it. Now look it in the eyes, and deal with it.

Ok so I got an idea for a big Hollywood movie that will show the true grit and glory of war and how cool it is and how awesome the US military is. It is a sequel to BlackHawk Down. Here's the pitch:

It's November in Iraq, and our boys are on a dangerous mission to transplant Western-style democracy in the middle East for Paul Wolfowitz and secure oil fields for Cheyney while simultaneously eliminating Bush the Father's nemesis, one of the most defiant bastards our government has ever faced, a man who insisted by gruesome example that the US was not the only nation with the right to build and use WMDs.

Anyway, back to the plot: our boys are bravely choppa-choppa chopping across the desert in 2 BlackHawks, some of the poor bastards actually believing they are somehow defending our Constitution, when they crash into each other over the Tigris and die. Fade to black.

I have experienced death in my family. Death sucks. Sure does suck even more when it is due to your devotion to country being abused in a war we never should have started.