http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1084918209152&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795Can one be anti-America but not antipathetic to Americans? How closely can the agenda and actions of the administration be tied to the citizenry who elected the government? In the United States, of course, the Bush administration has a dubious claim to legitimacy. The Florida ballot fiasco suggests that Gore was the choice of the majority of voters.
The narrowness of the margin, however, reflects the fact that a huge minority of voters did indeed support Bush. Their reasons for doing so directly impact on their culpability in the actions of the Bush White House. While the populace knew that George Junior was governor of Texas, his record in that department was by no means fully appreciated.
During his term as governor, prisoner abuses in state facilities, such as we're seeing in Iraq, were regularly reported and routinely ignored. It is only because we have photographic coverage of the torturing in Iraq that people are forced to notice and to respond appropriately with revulsion. The Red Cross has been protesting the Iraqi situation, without raising interest from the administration, for some time.
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Now, however, we have had four years of a Bush administration. It is time for Americans to tell the world that the odious policies of the cabal in Washington are not what the home of the brave and the land of the free represent. If the world can be anti-America under its current pilotship, this could easily turn to anti-Americanism should the populace support the current regime.
I will certainly give Americans the benefit of the doubt — after all, they didn't really elect Bush in the first place. But if, after seeing him in action, they choose to support him, I will have trouble separating the people from the government
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