How ashamed of ourselves should we be? [View All]

[mopaul]

Not to be too preachy on a Sunday morn, but I wonder if anyone besides me thinks we the people should be ashamed of ourselves FOR ALLOWING things to get this bad? It reminds me of the good German people analogy, who worshiped Hitler as a god, but could not see the evil right under their noses. When the carnage was all over, many Germans felt a deep shame, that they had not only allowed it to happen, but participated in it by not stopping it. They felt a collective guilt, as a nation, that they had been so utterly duped by madmen.

Sometimes I think, we get the leaders we deserve. When they stole the election in 2000, I felt shame that we simply accepted it, and didn't take to the streets in righteous rage. Then I felt deep shame when we all realized what an idiot bush is, and shame that the media gave him a free pass on everything. Then more shame, as the neocons began stripping away all or our cherished rights and values right in front of our faces.

How ashamed are you as a Democrat for not screaming louder, being more indignant and outraged at all the rightwing bullshit? Deeply, or not at all? Do we have nothing to be ashamed of, or should we suck it up and admit that we should be doing more to stop these men.
And indeed, they must be stopped, because that's the only way they will go away, is if we physically stop them.

I'm tired of feeling ashamed myself, I want my country back, and I'm ready to rumble. The neocons have shamed us to the whole world, and we share some of that shame for allowing it to get this far, and this screwed up. We should be a little ashamed of ourselves for getting fat and lazy and complacent and apathetic, and ashamed of ourselves for letting bullies roll over us.

When I was a kid, I was confronted by bullies, as most kids have experienced. It was always terrifying and humiliating and I always felt ashamed of myself afterwords. The bullies always beat me down, and I always let them, until one day......it hit me. You have to stand up to a bully, if for no other reason than to feel better about yourself. I said to my young self, "I've got to at least stand up to the bully, even if he kicks my ass, at least I tried, and I can sleep better knowing it".

As it turned out, once I confronted my bully, he never messed with me again, and no other bully has messed with me since then. And in that small triumph, I could feel the opposite of shame, pride.

Do ever feel that you could have done more, and taken more pride in your political status and your nation? Fought a little harder, yelled out in rage a little louder? Stop being ashamed, and stop letting the bullies scare you. Let's just start from the top, and take back our nation, so we can all collectively feel proud again.