Democracy? Have we deserted it?

The current flap about spying brings to mind an old adage: Sometimes when we try to do good in the world, we forget about the people at home. Here we are trying to 'export' democracy to Iraq and Afghanistan while simultaneously violating our own constitution and our own citizens' right to privacy.

The whole idea of checks and balances - the cornerstone of our government - is being thrown out the window in the name of the war on terror. Of course, our insipid congressmen, who are now elected for life it seems, have done little to restore these checks and balances. I can't remember too many Congresses that have been as ineffectual and as concerned with trivia (vide, the baseball steroid issue and the flap over a nipple) as this one. Hell, we're moving very quickly to a world where we are not the sole superpower and this Congress is more concerned with next year's election than with offering alternatives to the imperialists who run the executive branch and - the way things are going - run the government totally on their own, given the likely supine Supreme Court that will soon be in power.

Sure, some Senators are screaming about "the violation of our citizens' rights". But did they not pass the Patriot Act virtually unanimously? Did they not give Bush carte blanche in the war on terror? What are they doing or even saying about our wonderful actions in Guantanamo? Have they not approved the nominations of incompetent people to run our government? Did they not pass the tax cuts that could have paid for the bulk of this war? Did they not interfere in the Schiavo case?

It hurts me to say this but I suspect that most of the really nasty people in this world, including brutal dictators, very likely feel that they are doing the right thing. They feel that their nation's existence is threatened and anything goes in trying to save the nation, even if in saving it you destroy it. We are approaching such a situation. These people - who have shown so little ability to run this country effectively in almost any area - now claim that they are the only ones who know what is right and good for us.

Fortunately, I am old and may escape the results that, as night follows day, will befall this country due to the ineptitude and arrogance of our leaders, Democratic and Republican. Unfortunately, my children and grandchildren will not. Until today, just about every generation in this country was convinced - and rightfully so - that their kids would have a better life. I don't think that belief is justified any longer. Unless we a see a drastic change in the people who run this country, there is only one way this country will go and that is down.