Nostra Culpa

I would not usually link to a Times op-ed piece, but I'm doing so now, not because this one is particularly timely or well-written, but because Frank Rich makes a point that I almost never hear made. Namely, WE are to blame for our country's failures. We, all citizens, are the U.S.A. We are culpable for the lives taken, in Iraq and elsewhere, as well as for the complete loss of respect and influence the U.S. has suffered around the world.

I have often consoled myself, and defended my country against Bush-haters, by saying that America has been lead astray. Or that most people in the U.S. are good, and that the mistakes made in Iraq are not representative of my country. Or, I say, just wait a few more years, and we'll vote him out.

This, I now realize, is bull shit. If the people in the U.S. wanted to change course, we would have. Bush is obviously not so secure in his power that we cannot influence him. And even if he were, his power is based solely on public approval, or, perhaps, apathy. I'm not saying that we are to blame because we live in a democracy. In the modern era, I'm not convinced that democracy functions at all differently from any other type of government. Instead, public opinion, or lack there of, is the defining feature of a country. Just as Germans enabled Hitler even if they did not all support him, by allowing Iraq to happen we are just as guilty as if we were the ones actively participating. The relevant comparison here is not Bush to Hitler. And we can no longer be consoled by the limited scope of Iraq. The conflict there is spilling over into the entire region and into all aspects of our foreign relations.

What's to be done? A society is easily poisoned when the people who govern control the press and the organization of its citizens. I'm thankful that, in the U.S., these freedoms are guaranteed, or at least not currently challenged. But a democracy of the sort we have today has it's own dangers. Power is shielded behind a legislative and executive bureaucratic system that blunts public action and diffuses responsibility. Merely voting is not enough; in fact, it can be a distraction. Our elected and non-elected employees and representatives must ask for our mandate every day when they wake up, not just every two, four or six years. By tacitly granting it, even as they mire us deeper and deeper into immoral policy, we are participating in our own demise. God bless America? God have mercy...

And free speech can be a distraction as well. It's not clear whether Frank Rich is claiming this, but he is not absolved simply by writing this piece. A spot in the Times is little more than a soapbox. Perhaps the reporters who expose Blackwater massacres are doing their part, but pundits (including me) clearly are not. There is a sense in which we are mesmerized by the free press. Because we are able to say anything, we have an excuse for failing to act. What, pray tell, has Internet mobilization achieved? We need people in the streets.