The state of our souls

The House of Representatives announced yesterday that the America they want to see is not a country governed by moral and ethical principles, or by the rule of law. It is, instead, a country where the president can use vaguely defined rationales to imprison anybody he wants to imprison on any pretext he can cook up, hold them indefinitely, and use torture methods that he knows well in advance will provide no reliable information.

The Senate comes up to bat next. I would like to say the Disgrace America Act will fail there, but that’s not going to happen. A big election is just around the corner. The Republicans are waving their ooga-booga Osama bin Laden dolls in everyone’s faces. A lot of lawmakers who ought to know better have decided to play Jack Bauer and go along for the ride on this bill.

And where does the ride end? What kind of country do these people want to live in? Why are there so many Americans who don’t seem to want to live in America? Our nation is in terrible shape right now, but with the imminent passage of this bill, I have to say the state of our national soul may be even worse.