I’m not going to pussyfoot about it: I’m opposed to the war now, I was opposed to the war then, and I always will be opposed to the war. I believe in universal health care, environmental sustainability, and educational reform. Big corporations scare me. I’m really worried about threats to our civil rights. I hate titles, but I guess sometimes you just need to declare your ground. And I’m going to declare it. I’m a liberal.
But if you’re scared, well, you really shouldn’t be. I don’t want to burn down your house or piss in your gas tank. I think the most devastating part of the war crisis so far is the way it has divided the American people into two camps: for, and against. It’s getting to the point where antiwar activists hiss and throw up finger-crosses when someone says something in support of Bush. And whenever I voice my views to someone older than myself, they sort of pat me on the head with an “aww shucks” and expect me to go back to my hippie commune and sing Kum-bah-yah and eat granola. These images just aren’t real. Supporting your troops doesn’t mean you support killing. But opposing American foreign policy doesn’t mean you’re an anti-establishment, misanthropic communist, either.
I’ve talked to a lot of people with views on either side. My conclusion: we’re all American. Mostly everyone agrees that peace is good, war is bad. Eating a good meal beats sleeping on the street, and cars are nice. We like freedom, we like happiness. We’re independent to a fault. The things we disagree on are how to go about getting these things. Some people enjoy “nine to five” jobs, I don’t. But we’re all hard workers. We all worship in our way, and make life choices that affect us every day. My friends have started looking at me weird since I’ve started making seitan kebabs at our summer barbeques. But it’s okay for them to have hamburgers. Progressivism and indulgence are not exclusive. So many of our great American traditions stem from the vast resources of this continent-as do our problems.
What worries me more than threats abroad is the way we’re threatening ourselves at home. When our President says things like “for us or against us,” I begin to wonder what democratic ideal is being invoked. Didn’t a Supreme Court justice conceptualize the importance of the First Amendment in creating a marketplace of ideas? What does it say about us when we say our resolve doesn’t waver? Shouldn’t our resolution always be wavering? Shouldn’t we constantly doubt the righteousness of our cause, lest we be blinded by our own egos? And, even if we should be certain that we are definitely right no matter what, shouldn’t we at least tolerate the fact that maybe some people don’t believe it? Especially if they are our own people? -And millions of them? Isn’t what makes America beautiful the fact that we can grow from our disagreements and exchange power peacefully? I think that’s what’s at stake. A single person afraid to speak is a subtle death to democracy. On one side I am awed by the beauty of hundreds of thousands of people on the street with signs and songs, united by a common goal. On the other I see people on either side of the war camp erupting with blind absolutism against the other side. This is what is un-American.