The other night I was in an IRC channel where one of those ultra-liberal, Michael Moore worpshipping, “The US Sucks” guys[1] was babbling about something. I rolled my eyes and then the song “Sister Suffragette” from the Mary Poppins soundtrack played. That got me thinking.
When the US was founded women and blacks were not treated as equals, and in spite of all it’s wonderful ideals, this country has never been the utopia people today seem to want to think it was. Even I have caught myself saying what a horrible mess this country is in now. But when you take a look at our history we’ve been in a lot worse places as far as civil liberties were concerned (just this past century we’ve had Wilson’s Espionage and Sedition Acts passed during WWI, concentration camps for Japanese in WWII, both Red Scares…). In fact, we’re more informed as a public than we’ve ever been before. Anyone with access to a computer can get a dozen different views on any political subject with a simple google search. And anyone has a chance to have their message heard by dozens, hundreds, thousands, millions of others with web publishing.
Now this doesn’t mean that I think the Bush administration is doing good things. No doubt the Patriot Act will be listed with the Espionage and Sedition acts of the past (but certainly of a lesser caliber). Bush is definately pushing this country in the wrong direction as far as civil rights go. The Patriot Act and his aggressive opposition to gay rights, is all bad. What our country needs, has always needed, is progressiveness. In just 200 years we’ve changed this country to something the founding fathers wouldn’t have believed (but which I’m sure some of them would have been proud of).
So the system is a bit broken right now, but it’s nothing we haven’t lived through before. I don’t think this country will be turned into box of oppression anytime soon, there are too many people fighting it. And although I roll my eyes at the extreme liberals who troll around IRC looking for a fight, they’re part of it too. They still have the right to say the things they say (and write about, and make successful documentaries about). When they don’t, it’s time to start getting worried. And even then, we’ve been through it all before.
[1] These people are a topic unto themselves. They have the money and free time to chat on IRC about how much this country sucks. They’re not starving in a 3rd world country or being subjected to an oppressive dictator who’d throw them in prison for saying the things they’re saying. These people just drive me nuts!