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All I knew when I was young was what I was told about social justice, free and open democracy, truth. I knew nothing, for instance, about “the strange fruit in Southern trees.” I knew nothing about the US government’s foreign policy of overthrowing democratic governments,-Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954…which reminds me,-I DID know of Congress’ 1954 law turning the loyalty oath to the US (already an uncomfortable matter for a child raised on the desirability of free and open democracy over forced loyalty to kingships) into a religious proclamation as well. I put my atheistic child’s foot down at this, but still otherwise lived a carefree life of ignorance about the hypocrisy, the lies, the machinations of greedy sociopaths,-in sum, the US I came to know when I wised up. But, since I’d been raised to believe in good things, I strive for them now. The current gang in Washington learned one thing from the past,-don’t put ideas of social justice, free and open society, and truth into impressionable minds. The defiantly in-your-face criminality and elitism and virulently anti-social psychopathology of the Bush administration prepare the next generation to expect only the worst.
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