Inaugurations

The inauguration was today. Apparently, it's the most expensive inauguration ever ... tipping the scales at $40 million. Pres. Bush has received a lot of flack for this, but I'm still waiting for someone to mention how much Pres. Clinton or any other president had spent. In fact, I'd be somewhat surprised if every president doesn't surpass the president before him; due to inflation if nothing else. Then again, I do agree that spending $40 million on a party is pretty inane. I think presidents should start phasing back the inauguration celebration over time. I understand there's some importance to pomp and ceremony, but does it really have to be so overblown? I can't help but wonder how much of it is just to give lobbyists another opportunity to hobnob with politicos.

This brings something important up: I'm somewhat jaded with domestic politics. I'll go more into detail about that someday; but suffice it to say, I find most of the political process distasteful. This is not restricted to one party or the other. Raised a Republican, I'm a bit cynical of both parties.

So I've been listening to National Public Radio (NPR) all morning and reading The Daily Show's America (The Book). It's a funny bit of satire, but it's been tainting the inaugural proceedings for me. I heard a little bit of George W.'s address and would have listened to the entire thing if I'd had time. It had too much propaganda for my tolerance level (But what do you expect? It's the inaugural address!).

One of the reasons America is despised by the EU is because we maintain an attitude of American superiority -- which is interesting, since that's our same complaint about the French. We consider ourselves the best country: the culmination and end-all of two thousand years of democratic thought. In fact, "America" is synonymous with "freedom/democracy" in our rhetoric. When terrorists attacked on 9/11, it was explained away as their being "opponents of freedom and democracy." That was the spin the White House took on it. I'm not blaming this administration in particular: any White House presidency would have used that same sentiment to discount their suicidal actions. They tried to pretend that the attack was carried out because they didn't like McDonalds and MTV and the American way of life.

This argument grossly oversimplifies the issue ... dangerously so. It doesn't do us any good to believe our own propaganda, since the rest of the world obviously doesn't believe it. So who are we kidding? We need to understand what is really going on here. Here are a few very important points we can all learn from:

1) The United States did not invent "freedom."

2) Never take anything said over the political pulpit at face value.

3) Any speech containing the words "freedom" and "democracy," or insinuating that our international actions are altruistic, is merely propaganda.

4) Europe is no better than we are. They have their own reasons for doing things and, it just so happens, they often conflict with our own. If you don't believe this, look at any Security Council or UN vote and see who votes for or against different motions.

It all comes down to power.I'm not trying to disparage the U.S., though. Really, I do think some of our foreign actions have good motives. However, the business-aspect always manages to creep in (as attested by Halliburton in Iraq). And America will never go to war if it's not in our best interest to do so. An obvious statement, and yet our propaganda suggests otherwise -- portraying ourselves as the "protector of freedom."

*sigh*

Although I wasn't planning on it, I suppose I'll break out with my political discourse on tomorrow's post.