Well, to date (Nov. 1), my brother is still planning to vote for George W. Bush. I intend to call him tonight and try to talk some sense into him. He's a Vietnam veteran who's been through a lot over there. A while back, he got into a terrible jamb for getting caught driving after having one too many beers. They really hammered him big-time. Of course, he has no trouble understanding that there are certain rules to pay attention to. Maybe sometimes you might have to break one here and there, but break one too many, and a hammer comes down.
He watches all that O'Reilly factor stuff way too much. And we all know what that can lead to. These O'Reilly types keep jabbering way about how John Kerry must be this kind of creep who, through some sordid trickery, managed to slither from under some dirty rock by marrying a woman who had tons of money. And at the same time, George W. Bush may have to do a few dirty deeds in order to show the world that he's this tough guy by breaking a few rules.
Now, anyone who manages to pull their head out of this O'Reilly factor circus would plainly see that George W. Bush doesn't just break a few rules because he has to. He's a guy who likes to put millions of people in jail for breaking little rules that he makes, and likes to execute citizens who break somewhat larger rules. But George does not deign to any scrupulousness whatsoever when it comes to rules that HE wants to break. If George wants to, he'll just break the Geneva Conventions, he'll just let his military torture prisoners of war, and then claim that they aren't really prisoners of war, but rather, creatures of some other ilk who inhabit a category that his lawyers invented. So you see, there really are no rules at all for George; the King applies his rules to his subjects quite lavishly, but never concedes that any rules could apply to him.
If there is to be any future for the United States, people will have to understand that the United States is not about driving SUVs all over the place -- the United States must ultimately be about those who rule having to obey rules themselves. If the citizens allow the rulers to break the rules by failing to rectify abuses by voting out the abusers, then the citizens are guilty of the most wanton kind of permissiveness -- a permissiveness that will destroy the entire nation.
You see, the folks who are buying into the O'Reilly factor stuff are indulging in the most flagrant and dangerous kind of permissiveness there is. Well, these folks may talk a lot about how they hate permissiveness -- but in the final analysis -- they are the most permissive ones of all. It goes without saying that this kind of permissiveness is likely to land these folks in the most horrifying kind of trouble. Look what happened to the folks who permitted Saddam Hussein to indulge in wholesale lawlessness.
Now is the time for the citizens to protect their country and themselves; now is the time for the rulers to be called out for their wanton lawlessness. Now is the time for the ruled to tell their rulers -- SOMETIMES YOU'VE GOT TO NOT BREAK THE RULES.