CSIndy: American patriot (May 4, 2006) I thought this was a well done article in last weeks Independent.

Scott Ritter, former weapons inspector of non-existent weapons, comments on what he sees as a major problem, the ignorance in the American Public. I agree with his sentiments.

DR: You’ve said Americans aren’t against the war in Iraq because it’s wrong; you say they’re against it because we’re losing. Is it just that Americans don’t like getting their asses kicked?

SR: I’m saying Americans don’t know enough about anything to have a well-informed opinion; this is all superficial. At the end of the day, yeah, we don’t like to get our asses kicked. We have a lot of national pride that’s based around the notion that we can kick anybody’s ass — we’re the biggest, baddest boys on the block. And in Iraq, we’re not winning, so a lot of Americans have their ruffles up.

………..

DR: You say people have failed at citizenship. But, playing devil’s advocate, people are really busy. You seem to be saying that people can’t trust mainstream media, but it’s a lot to ask people to seek out the truth from alternative sources. How can people know whom or what to trust as the truth? In a representative democracy, shouldn’t they be able to trust their elected officials? And if they can’t, hasn’t our entire government structure failed?

SR: It would be nice to trust [elected officials], but, you know, representative democracy isn’t a one-phase process, where you vote, and then — boom — somebody gets elected and now that’s it, you back off. There’s a thing called accountability. They’re still accountable to you, and you have to hold them accountable for what they do in your name. It’s a constant process. We have to supervise, because, remember, they work for us.

Trust but verify.