I Must Be Getting Really Frustrated.

Those of you who know me from discussion boards or author groups will recognize how rarely I become involved in political discussions. Rather than alienate a group of people with whom I share common goals (those being the continued freedom of speech and the press and fighting the demonization of healthy sexuality), I will sit on the sidelines and just allow peoples passions free reign. Those rare times I do speak up are usually when someone just goes too far to the extreme in making a point.

Yet lately, I find myself compelled to make very public the point that disagreeing with the foreign policy of a sitting President is not an exercise in sedition.

This nation was founded in part because we did not feel that it was correct to simply do what George said without speaking our mind about it. True, that was a different George. That one had the title that this one sometimes appears to desire. Also, neither George is an isolated entity making decisions unilaterally, although the propaganda of those in opposition has portrayed it as such in both cases.

Therefore, I find it bewildering to be accused of “acting un-American” when I question the wisdom or policies of a man who STILL can’t pronounce nuclear. On the contrary, I would say that our founding fathers would find the idea that we should accept the word of a political figure as truth simply because we elected him is the thing that is un-American.

As a certain segment of our population continues the attempt to push us further toward a Fundamentalist Christian theocracy and away from being comfortable when speaking with a dissenting voice, I suspect that I will feel the urge to shoot from the hip more often.

Let me make it clear that although I most certainly did not vote for him, George W. Bush is my President. I will make my opinion of his actions known when asked and I am not shy about demonstrating my disapproval of him, but he is the democratically elected leader of the nation I love. I am not in denial, nor am I unaware of how the process works. However it is both my duty and my right to disagree with the man and other members of his political party.

So back off! Don’t call me a traitor, or a terrorist enabler, or anything else that makes sense in your twisted little neo-con minds. Don’t tell me I don’t support the troops because I don’t think they belong in the middle of someone else’s civil war. I come from a family with a strong military tradition. My father slogged through rice paddies, my brother was special forces out of Fort Bragg before he messed up his back and I have cousins in the service right now, one of whom has seen more of Baghdad than he ever wanted.

There is nothing that makes us more American then standing up and speaking our minds when we feel people in authority are in the wrong. The price of freedom is eternal viligance. Thomas Jefferson said that. The name should be familiar.