September 11, 2001 wasn’t a very hard thing to grasp for people: it was an act of wholesale indiscriminate murder.
September 12th was quite another story. What we did afterwards is really where the story of the last 10 years starts – our reaction. Unfortunately, it only took a few weeks to tell it wasn’t going to be a particularly good reaction. I recall Bush’s speech at Ground Zero seemed more like a speech a coach would give his team before a game – a bit out of tune for the circumstances but it was for the rescue workers struggling with long exhausting work so I let it go and waited for an address to the nation. And so I waited and remember sitting there rooting for Bush. Now, I didn’t care for him as Governor here in Texas but it’s a pretty weak governorship as far that goes so his ability to do much harm was limited accordingly and he didn’t seem like a bad guy on a personal level from things I’d read. Up until then, Bush had been leading the nation like you would expect a mediocre pro-business president would lead the nation so you kind of felt bad for the guy. Here he was basically expecting an easy post-Cold War ride when he gets hit with thousands murdered on his watch – way out of his league – so you really were just rooting for him and hoping his speech would bring out something that we could rally around. Unfortunately, we got something else (full text here). Now in between he added things like to not give into fear and intolerance and to give to charitable organizations and pray for those lost and their families which is fine but this is what stuck out.
“Americans are asking, “What is expected of us?” I ask you to live your lives and hug your children… I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy. Terrorists attacked a symbol of American prosperity; they did not touch its source.”
Or to paraphrase it – We’ve got this covered so you guys just live your lives like you would otherwise and, for God sake, don’t stop shopping!!! Wow! That’s a long way from the call to action that FDR gave to the nation(Link ). Asking for individuals and corporations (!!!) to sacrifice was just a little too 20th century for the US in 2001.
I got involved in the Peace Movement but protests were pretty annoying as there would always be some idiot with some anti-Semitic poster or some weird conspiracy theory nut-job that would make you cringe. Eventually, I realized that the “leaders” (at least locally) were just a bunch of career activists vying for power and the final straw for me was when I suggested a compromise between the two in our group. To suggest compromise got me labeled an agent provocateur by those in the factions. So, in the end, it was a huge joke.
Nationally, politics became a joke too. The Democrats and the Republicans pretty much playing with the nation like some really shitty game of D&D. “I cast stimulus!”, ”No no I cast Iraq invasion!”, “Oh no wait Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act !!!” Obama is no less a joke than Bush. Bush was a kid with a silver spoon who got in over his head while Obama has basically proven to be no more than an ambitious political hack. In the end, they both suck but while Iraq definitely gives Bush the edge on presidential fuck-ups, I’d wager that if you had a choice of someone to invite one over for Bar-B-Q, beers, and a football, you’d probably rather invite Bush.
Anyhow, the point of this post is that my reaction to 9/11 was to conclude that politics is bollocks. A huge “you need a wheel barrow to carry ‘em” set! Each side rallies their side in the media, neither trusts the other, but the fact of the matter is that Democrat or Republican, no matter how you try to spin it, it’s just a set of big stinky hairy balls.
So, I finally just gave all that a big cartman “Screw you guys, I’m goin’ home.” and I just focused on music, family, and friends. It seemed a lot better option than getting worked up over some stupid politician’s empty words. That’s not to diminish the lives lost (both military and civilian) but the sad thing is that all those lives lost happened not because they had to but because someone decided that their cause was more important – someone in a position of power who was safe from the explosions.
Oh, but my god told me…
No, your god made fucking hops and barley – he also made women. Fuck politics. You want to do good in the 21st century? Drink a beer and put your arms around the person you love. I’ll tell you what, I know that I’d rather be listening to music than strapping a bomb on myself to kill strangers for some bullshit ideal.
You want my ideal? Listening to Deer Tick with the woman I love. How’s that for a fucking ideal?
I totally agree. The sad thing though is that politics still run the country we live in, and on a larger scale, the world as well. And the fact that the last ten years have taught all of us Americans that our politics is bullshit should be a pretty scary thing… will any of us ever care enough again to try to keep the country on track? Is such a thing even possible any more? If the answer to these two questions is “no”, then we’re basically back to being the serfs of a thousand years ago, powerless, passive, and along for the ride. Given who’s been steering the country for the last ten years, that’s a terrifying concept. Should be even more terrifying for those with kids. Maybe someday someone will figure out how to change things, but for those of us of this generation, I think it’s a lost cause. The bums lost.
I share a lot of your feelings about 9/12, but I could not disagree more with a few of your other points.
During the Bush years, I felt sick to my stomach so many times post-9/11, thinking of how, if only we had a good President, we could’ve shown the world what America was really made of. Not a people cowering in fear. A country that would show its strength, obtain justice, and prevent future attacks, but not indiscriminately lash out like ignorant idiots. Remember that the entire world was behind us on 9/12. Bush not only blew that opportunity, he blasted into smithereens with the Iraq War, torture policy, etc.
Even in 2000, I thought the whole “there’s no difference between Democrats and Republicans” thing was way overblown. By 2003 it was pretty clear that it was absolute B.S. Gore would’ve hopefully hit different notes as President, post-9/11 for one thing. But the two major things that wouldn’t have happened with Gore as President that continue to fuck us over are the Iraq War and the fiscally ruinous serious of tax cuts that primarily benefitted the wealthy, and have contributed to various investment bubbles. Oh, and don’t forget the Citizens United ruling. You can bet Gore wouldn’t have appointed an Alito to the Supreme Court.
By 2011, if you still don’t think there’s any difference between D’s & R’s, I can only assume that you haven’t been paying any attention. Try listening to any of the R prez candidates for more than 5 minutes without fearing for our country’s future, I dare you. And this is a party that’s willing to risk the country defaulting if it doesn’t get its way.
Obama hasn’t been perfect, but his major sin seems to have been not living up to impossibly high expectations. There’s a damn good chance we would be talking about how to get the U.S. out of a depression had the stimulus not been done. There’s little chance any health reform would’ve been passed by a R. In fact one of his major failings in my eyes has been his counterproductive insistence on attaining some semblance of bipartisanism when the opposing party has zero interest in it.
It’s said that politics is the art of the possible. So those of us who are idealists or have high expectations will tend to get disappointed frequently. But the character of the country itself is increasingly becoming at stake, and more than ever we need sane sensible people to be involved in the political process, so I would urge people not to give up or tune out.
Oh I didn’t say there was no difference, just that they both sucked. I think Gore would have handled 09/11 much more intelligently and Iraq certainly wouldn’t have happened with Gore either. So sure if Gore had won the electoral college in 2000, we would definitely be better off as a nation but it’s the world after 9/11 and the 2004 election that I’m talking about. Now sure, after 8 years of Bush, Obama inherited a cluster fuck, which sucks, but that’s what the job is about and Obama approached the White House like someone who has to check with a series of party advisers as opposed to acting like someone with some serious personal vision. His administration left the hole open for a bunch of Republican challengers with a vision for the country – a really really fucked-up and disastrous vision but, hey, at least they have a vision that some people can connect with. Great! So now we’re either stuck with a group of Republican candidates who resemble more a bunch of toddlers having a hissy fit because they need their diapers changed or more of the same soulless hacky shit we’ve seen over the last few years of this presidency. In short you can have a plate of cat poo or a plate of diarrhea from Satan’s ass. Sure, I’d rather have the cat poo than the latter but in the end we’re choosing between plates of crap and the problem is we’re not the people deciding what goes on the menu.
I think it’s important to keep in mind as well that this shouldn’t be limited to the Presidency. Have our Congresspeople on either side of the line behaved markedly better? A few individuals with some guts, sure, but mostly it’s Republican obstinancy vs. Democratic defeatism. The whole mess seems pretty pathetic to me.
Thanks for the reminder. I forgot about the great “keep on shopping speech.”
I agree with your final sentiment – reminds me that politics truly is local. So could y’all please keep Perry in Texas?
Dude, I for one can’t for the life of me figure out Perry’s success. The guy is such a phony and so cornball that it’s a wonder anyone takes him seriously. The worst is that he’s plays up on a characature of what a many people think Texans are so it reflects really poorly on us here in this state. So i’m just pissed that he is dragging our fine state’s name in the mud with his act. The only person rooting for Perry is likely Bush because Perry could easily make the Bush years look brilliant in comparison. Point is we’d love to take one for the team and suffer a few more years under his hairness but if you guys are stupid enough to take him, don’t blame us – we tried to warn you.
Oh and while were focusing on US politics in the comments I was very much indicting the politics of the people behind the 9/11 attacks, suicide bombers, the. Taliban, the whole lot of them as well in case y’all missed it. I just want to be clear on that.
I’m not sure whether to cheer for him to win the nomination, on the theory that Obama would easily beat him in the general election, or if there’s actually some chance Perry could actually win it. I just feel like there’s SO much that can be used against him, from pretty much any time he opens his mouth (hello, Social Security). On the other hand, with the unlimited SuperPAC money that will get poured into this cycle, who knows what could happen.
I find Rick Perry’s supposed popularity a bit hard to swallow, considering that he was forced to run a primary campaign after 8 years in office, won with only 51% of the vote, and then, in a historically great year for Republicans, did no better in the general election than John McCain had done in a historically BAD year for Republicans. The man has never been popular even in Texas.