"As a nation, we are mute, we are silent," Ritter thundered.

Americans Share Blame for War, Speaker Says
by Gwen Mickelson

SANTA CRUZ — The American people share the blame for the war in Iraq.

That was one of the messages during the Iraqi Women Speak Out Tour, an anti-war event that drew hundreds of attendees to the Veterans Memorial Building.

"When you look at the lead-up to the war in Iraq, I blame President Bush, I blame Congress, I blame the media," said Scott Ritter, a former Marine, former United Nations chief weapons inspector for Iraq and contributor to the book "Neo-Conned Again!," a compilation of condemnations of the Iraq War. "But I'm not cutting any slack for the American people."

Americans, he said, have grown accustomed to a lifestyle they cannot sustain. Many Americans have failed to engage, he said, making the American government more of an oligarchy than a representative democracy.

"As a nation, we are mute, we are silent," Ritter thundered.

more at:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0327-01.htm

I agree with this in large part, although I'm not sure about the "grown accustomed to a lifestyle they cannot sustain" bit - always think it's a losing issue to promise the American people that things are going to get worse.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

The U.S. has something like 6 percent of the world's population and consumes more than 25 percent of it's resources. Things MUST get worse eventually unless there are major technological changes (and the U.S. is lowballing the basic science efforts necessary in that regard). We are living an utterly unsustainable lifestyle, and are now beginning to fight resource wars to maintain it. Even that is shortsighted, however, since the resource war itself increases the drain on resources-- especially economic stability-- to even more unsustainable levels.

Clue to the American people: get ready to endure something similar to what happened in Russia after the fall of the USSR-- economic collapse and social downturn.

Uninvolved.

If our people refuse to bear their share of the burden of sustaining a democracy by participation,...gee, I don't know, maybe we are getting what we deserve.

I just don't understand this country, anymore. I can't grasp what we've become. x(

And connect the dots.