Shame
I see a lot of friends in email and on social media saying they are ashamed to be American today. Not me. I’m proud to be an American. I don’t think we’re the best country because I’m an American. I think we’re the best country because I’ve lived and traveled around the world and seen the others. We are the best.
But we’ve gotten tired and lazy as a nation of late. We’ve forgotten we’re not the world’s policeman, but the guardian of the western order. At home, some want to tell us that the western order is bad, racist, patriarchal, etc. But the western order values liberty and freedom. It sometimes seems more chaotic than in other parts of the world. But it is the best system wherein one can live out their potential.
I am not ashamed to be an American. I am ashamed of our leadership and, truthfully, at a bipartisan level. But, most particularly right now, the Biden Administration has lied to us publicly. Much of the pundit class is giving Biden a pass or blaming anyone but Biden. But Biden lied. He told George Stephanopolous he would get everyone out of Afghanistan. He lied.
The timeline to leave was artificially created. It was rushed. It was poorly executed. It leaves behind allies, friends, and Americans — people who wanted to leave but could not.
The Biden Administration blocked private rescue efforts and shuttered charitable endeavors, undoubtedly because the competing efforts would have revealed how in shambles the official effort was.
It is appalling and everyone should condemn it. Democrats will either avoid it or praise it. They too should be willing to criticize it. Frankly, with what is coming in the election about the only way for Democrats to save face is to start criticizing the effort.
In 1990, after George H. W. Bush broke his “read my lips, no new taxes” pledge, House Republicans, guided by Ed Rollins, walked away from President Bush. They criticized him and distanced themselves from him. The ones who stayed with Bush lost. The ones who criticized him survived. A bloodbath is coming in the midterms for the Democrats even without redistricting. The ones who want to save themselves can and should now work with the GOP to hold Biden accountable for his broken promises.
I’m proud to be an American. But I’m ashamed of my government and demand Congress do its job instead of serving as chief apologist for the second branch.
Your last sentence nailed it, Erick: "I’m proud to be an American. But I’m ashamed of my government and demand Congress do its job instead of serving as chief apologist for the second branch." So am I. I'm also ashamed that we have a "news media" which manages to feel no shame at being one party's Ministry of Propaganda. People in journalism have the right to have personal partisan political opinions and to act on them as citizens, but when doing their job, their sole allegiance should be toi the truth. I'm ashamed that we let them get away with that.
I'm ashamed at the military in which I served for 20 years. We're so often told that U.S. Transportation Command at Scott AFB, IL has the best military logisticians in the world. Well, where the hell have they been for the last month? Maybe we ought to have contracted this job out to FedEx or UPS, so it could have been done properly. The civilian and military leadership at the Department of Defense should have spent less time reading Robin DeAngelo and more time reading the intelligence reports which clearly showed that the Afghan National Army was folding like a cheap card table, and started the evacuation sooner. I'm ashamed that, after all these years, we still haven't realized that the average person we elevate to the status of head of state in whatever nation we're trying to build always seems to be some sort of Third World grifter who happily loots both us and his country's treasury, then makes a clean getaway. I recommend our next drone strike take out former Afghan Grifter-In-Chief Ashraf Ghani, if only to make it clear to the next one. if we ever get this stupid again, that looting us to the tune of many millions of dollars is not the way to show your gratitude. I'm ashamed that after all these years and all these failures, we still think that "nation building" is still a viable concept. Give the whole idea back to the idiot neocons who are so enamored of it, and then never listen to them ever again. And finally, I'm ashamed that we were stupid enough to both trust, and continue to trust, a bunch of 7th Century Islamic fanatics with security for the Biden Bugout.
I love my country. I fear and distrust my country's government - ALL of it.
It is good that the Biden mentality wasn’t behind the Dunkirk evacuation.