Addicted to Killing

I have figured out what Bloody George’s problem is. He is addicted to killing. Cocaine and alcohol used to be his addictions, but now, thanks to Jesus and the kind of power that should be reserved for an intelligent person with wisdon, he is addicted to killing.

Our Congress is also vicariously addicted to the same thing as Bloody George as they willingly, with the flare of the best enablers, hand him more and ever more money to fuel his addiction. The biggest problem with Congress being champion addiction enablers is that Bloody George only hurts others with his addiction. Some people, including many members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, benefit greatly from Bloody George’s addiction.

Bloody George, Congress, and the rest of the ruling elite of our country are not the only ones addicted to killing. Our country is founded on killing a native population almost to extinction and on the back of African slaves who were only counted as three-fifths of a person so the white ruling elite class of the South could have more representation in Congress. No matter how much we protest George’s war of choice for profit, we Americans are addicted to this killing too, if we weren’t it would stop.

The representation question is very relevant to our country and relevant to this discussion. No matter how much Bloody George the Conqueror likes to exploit, bastardize and defile the word “democracy” our country has never been a democracy. The United State of America is technically and constitutionally a “Representative Republic” even though when our nation was founded only white male property owners (much of that property was human slaves) were allowed to be represented.

A representative governmental system is just as simple it sounds: the people elect other people to represent them in the Federal government. The reps are elected to represent their constituents, not the war profiteers or K-Street lobbyist.

From a state of almost constant war and slaughter---Manifest Destiny (that Century’s Project for a New American Century) used the language of the so-called Christian Enlightenment of the period to justify the genocide of Native Americans and war against the Mexicans who dared think that our land was theirs; a bloody civil war that killed as many Americans in four years as innocent Iraqis in this year’s war; the wholesale massacre of over 200,000 Filipinos in the Spanish-American War; then the 20th Century wars that killed millions of people---to being the only “civilized country” that practices capital punishment, let’s face it folks---Americans are now and have been historically addicted to killing.

If we the people took our part in representative government as seriously as the lobbyists and PACs of the war profiteers took theirs, and if we the people of America took the sacredness of ALL life (not just fetal life) as seriously as we took the holiness of American Idol, then our leaders wouldn’t be able t kill other people with such wanton abandon and we would demand that our reps end the paradigm of constant war and human atrocities.

Unfortunately, we are also complicit in this, because many of us are terrified to support candidates that reflect our beatitudes and not the beatitudes of the war machine. We become pragmatic and vote against our own consciences and push the button or pull the lever for the lesser of two evils. So, why should we congratulate ourselves for getting someone a little less evil?

If we weren't addicted to killing, millions of us would be in the street demanding that Congress impeach, indict and imprison BushCo for the survival of the planet and for accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

If constant war and killing people are your beatitudes, then by all means vote for war mongers. If working for peace with the tenacity and courage that defeating the military industrial complex will take, then vote from your courage and values.

Don’t be afraid. Fear is what the ruling, monied class feeds on and our children’s blood is what they and their children thrive on.

Stop our countries addiction for killing before it touches your family like it has touched mine.









Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on 04/04/04.
She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and the Camp Casey Peace Institute.
She is the author of three books, the most recent is: Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache
to Activism.