WillPatching.com

Any petition has to be short and to the point.  Mine is not a treatise on democracy, nor is it aimed at justifying one political system over any other.

I wrote it because I cringe when Bush arrogantly uses the title The Leader of the Free World. 

Hearing these words repeated mantra-like by our docile western media – with no one ever bothering to question their validity – makes me angry. 

Why does this man, who was voted for by only a minority of US citizens, assume that he speaks for hundreds of millions of other people - Europeans, Japanese, Australians, Canadians, etc etc – who have never even had an opportunity to vote for him?

Does Bush speak for you?

If so, then be happy. 

If not, then please read and sign the petition here.

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Big Brother?

I got this in an email from a pilot friend in early Jan 2008:

“I can’t sign the petition even though I sympathise - the simple fact is that I regularly have to go through US Immigration and I don’t want to make that process any more painful than it already is. Yes I do believe big brother is watching! I have several friends in the job who always get taken away for interview because of something on the computer about them (in one case because he has the same name as someone they really are bothered about!).”

What a sad state of affairs…

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Having received a number of other emails querying aspects of the petition, I would like to clarify the following:

Communism

Some socialists have been put off signing the petition because they feel it disparages communism in some way.  Unfortunately, the definition of The Free World is not my own: the term was coined during the Cold War by US politicians and their media hounds at a time when anti-communism was particularly frenzied. 

Free World?

Some people feel our world is anything but free – especially as our limited freedoms have been greatly eroded during the so-called ‘War on Terror’ – but this is a topic all of its own: I will be posting my thoughts on the subject in 2008.  This petition is specific by necessity and adopts generally accepted terms to point out the arrogant hypocrisy of any US President who confers upon himself the lofty title The Leader of the Free World. 

Democracy

Many westerners feel the term democracy is also misused these days.  In our supposedly democratic countries modern politics is more about style than substance, image rather than reality, self-interest rather than philanthropy, and wealth rather than talent.  I am a firm believer that anyone who really wants to be a politician is probably not fit to be one.  So much for democracy.

Propaganda

Spin is a term beloved of our western media, yet it masks something less benign.  I prefer the old-fashioned and far more accurate word propaganda.   I will be sharing my thoughts on this subject in the coming weeks, but when “torture” becomes “harsh interrogation” even the most complacent westerner should hear alarm bells ringing.

Anti-American Bush hater?

I am not anti the American people, although there is much about US society that is wrong.  Incidentally, if you are American you can sign the petition as it was written to be inclusive for all so-called Free Worlders.

I am not a Bush hater, even though some rabid Republicans have attacked me as such.  Yes, I detest his policies, his cronyism, his professed religiosity, his arrogance, his militarism and his simplistic world views. 

However, he is clearly a psychologically damaged individual, as evidenced by his alcoholism.  He is in power only because of his family’s wealth and influence, and he has lived in his father’s shadow for most of his feckless life.  Although his IQ is apparently still a state secret, it is inevitable that his mental acuity was damaged by his binge-drinking playboy years.  He is the most powerful man in the world yet he can barely string a sentence together. 

Perhaps I am one of the people he thinks “misunderestimate” him. (Sic)

I certainly do not hate the man. But I do hate it when he claims to represent me.

Please join me in protesting his abuse of the title The Leader of the Free World.

You can read and sign the petition here.