Don't blame him ...

A lot of talk around Left Blogtopia (y!sctp!) about the Frank Rich article I linked to yesterday.

Basically, the argument is that Ol' Frank got a set of balls pointing the finger at us when he was part of the 'MSM' who enabled the Chimp and Cheney. And I agree, to a point.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is our country. We enabled them too. We were the ones who allowed that mess in Florida after the 2000 election instead of protesting in the streets. We were the ones who elected these idiots for a second term. We are the ones who don't give a shit what happens in Washington, we can look the other way when others are persecuted and prosecuted, so long as no one fucks with our slice of the pie.

We were the ones who were bought off by tax rebates (where's that $300 now?) while the rich got to pay even less. We were the ones running around aroused, turgid, and erect when the bombs started falling on Baghdad. We were the ones who stood up and cheered when Saddam's statue was pulled down.

We were the ones who allowed them to build the prison at Gitmo and we were the ones who didn't give a shit when evidence of our atrocities (Abu Ghraib, rendition, secret prisons) came to the surface.

Blame Congress, blame the Chimp, blame the press but they are us. It is our country and they are our employees. If a business owner lets his employees run his business into the ground, it's his own fault.

Yes, maybe Frank Rich doesn't get that he's part of the problem, but we are the bosses and we are the ones who have let the American brand be run into the ground. Through our apathy and selfishness we have let the employees take over.

Yes, it might do Frank some good to look in the mirror, but so should we. For crying out loud, half of us don't even bother to vote. We are America and we should all have seen it coming back in '99. Some of us did, most of us didn't but it doesn't absolve any of us from our collective sin of not giving enough of a shit to pay attention.

However the 'Bush Era' ends, it'll be up to us to fix it. How we do that will determine America's legacy.

Off to the shop ...