I read this article first thing this morning–ok, afternoon, so sue me–and felt a little of my tension melt away. It looks as if W. has no intention of burrowing himself in the White House. I should have known, given how little he actually wanted to do throughout his presidency. I am still wary that he will try to rush through one last stupid law before the door hits him on the way out, but that can be dealt with by the incoming Obama administration. I am beginning to believe that we will actually be rid of W.’s toxic presence on the national scene.
So, with that in mind, I want to turn my attentions to the almost-forgotten man, the puppetmaster behind the strings–Dick Cheney. He has given a few interviews in the past week or so, but for the most part, he has been the invisible man of W.’s second term. There were times when I even wondered if he’d died, and no one had bothered to inform the public. Alas, it was not so. He reared his head to reinforce his reputation as the most callous, chilling man on earth.
This is an open letter to him.
Dear Dick:
May I call you Dick? You seem like a Dick to me. There are several things I would like to say to you, but I am not quite sure how to say them.
First of all, I am appalled by your lack of human emotions and your lack of, how shall I put it, any sort of morals. When you talked about torturing people as if it were nothing, you sounded nothing more like a psychopath explaining why he had to kill. No emotion, no remorse, nothing in the way of humanity. What’s more, you rationalized why we had to torture and how you would have done the exact same thing if you were to go back and do it all over again. No, you didn’t just rationalize it, you defended it! Like there is any moral justification to torture. This is the true mind of an amoral killer.
In addition, you tried to do a little polishing of your image on the way out. You said that you had gotten a bad rap–that you were really a lovable guy. I don’t know how to respond to something as astoundingly ludicrous as that statement, but if you actually believe it, you’re as delusional as your puppet. However, if you truly don’t get why people hate you, let me help you out a bit.
People hate you because you have shown a distressing williness to let our soldiers die for your made-up reasons to go to war. People hate you because you answer the question was it worth it (deaths in Iraq) like this. By now, most people have realized that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and that W. was determined to go to war in Iraq to finish what Daddy couldn’t do. The fact that you still consider all the casualties worth it makes me question if you really are a member of the human race.
People hate you because you and your Halliburton cronies made (and are still making) millions off the blood of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis. It’s also well-documented that the contractors from Halliburton are making obscene amounts of money for doing jack-all in Iraq while our soldiers have to struggle make ends meet.
People hate you because unlike W. who at least appears to want to do good, you just don’t give a shit. You talk about what you’ve done in the context of strengthening America, but there is no conviction behind your words. For W., I would offer the quote from James Baldwin: Nothing in more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure of heart, for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.
For you, however, I don’t think you really give a damn about what’s good for the country. You did what you did for your own nefarious reasons, and for those hurt along the way, so what? This quote from Teddy Roosevelt is more up your alley: No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency. Hear that, Dick? No man. Hm, does that mean that women are justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency?
But, as is my wont, I digress.
I think it’s your lack of compassion more than anything else that disturbs me. You treat human lives as if they are just chits in your game, something to be brokered, bartered, bought, and/or sold. I would bet you haven’t had a sleepless night since you entered the White House–excuse me, whatever safe house you hid yourself in. You have never once displayed an iota of doubt over any of your decisions, and to that, I zap you with a Friedrich Nietzche quote: Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.
Yes, I am in a quote-y mood today because I don’t find my own words adequate when I am discoursing on your lack of humanity. In addition, you make every single hackle I have rise, in unison, every time you make an appearance. There is something off about you, and I can’t wait until you disappear into thin smoke as well. I’m not going to even get into how you expanded the role of the VP, flogging the Constitution in the process, causing an idiot like Sarah P. to have delusions of grandeur as to how life as VP would be because that seems almost minor (I said almost) in comparison with the other malignant things you’ve done. In addition, I believe Joe-the-VP-Elect will reverse that harmful process once he assumes the position of vice president.
In conclusion, out of W.’s entire entourage, you are the one who has done the most damage to our country (and the world), and I fervently hope that history marks you well for it. Since I am in a quote-y mood, and since this is the day we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, I will leave you with a quote from him:
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.