Are Americans Too Soft?

Whenever the call has been made to get to the truth of the Iraq War and to impeach the President of the United States, there has always been the rejoinder, "We wouldn't want to put the American people through a long trial". I've always wondered why, after all the descriptions of American "rugged individualism", "outspokeness" and "liberty", do dignitaries think that we cannot handle the truth coming out in a Congressional oversight committee or an independent hearing. Is it the fact that after being citizens of a "Super Power" in which we are "number one", that we wilt when we see our national leaders sit and squirm while they tell us what we've wanted to know after this time?

Perish the thought. Americans are more hardier than that. We don't sip mint juleps on the veranda and have a fainting spell at the slightest offense. It's all about keeping the cold, hard facts from the people and letting them sift through seven years of double-speak and talking points put forth by the MSM. It's a shame, too. Because there are answers to be had--especially after America entered the war with Iraq. We need to know about the torture that happened at the detention centers at home and abroad. We also need to find out why after all the UN fact checking that it just couldn't be taken as gospel that there were on WMD's in Iraq.

We also need to see some demonstration of holding our national leaders accountable for what has happened in Iraq. It doesn't need to be a polite, genteel proceeding like the ones you usually see when the Senate and the House is in session. There shouldn't be, "I'll yield three minutes to the Gentleman from so-and-so" and "I respectfully yield my time". No, nyet, nada.

There are sometimes that civility needs to be done away with in order to get to the truth. Sometimes, that viability has to be hard to hear. But for historical purposes, it needs to be done. The justification that the Congress is the "people's house" has to be restored. As I had spoken to someone earlier, it is the fact that we pay taxes. As a result, the salaries and elections of our politicians are in our hands. We ought to know what they are doing. And one must get tired of hearing scandal after scandal, whatever-gate after whatever-gate. Don't you think after so many years of flubs, side-stepping and denials, that someone ought to come clean and tell us the straight dope?

It is apropro to bring up another one of my common motifs in my entries: that America has to find its soul. Yes, our soul has been tattered and torn during the years of the current Administration. Our spirit has been tested through trials of fear, terrorism and words only meant to soothe temporary wounds. But the salve will not just work anymore. There needs to be some major surgery in order for our country to heal and get better.

Part of that has to be a call for courage and conscience in the government. Judging from the November 2006 elections, the citizens voted for a change in the way that business is done. Don't you think that someone might have the bravery to speak out and get the ball rolling before we sink any deeper in these dark times in which secrecy is held supreme and truth is duplicitous?

Let's hope so.