We Americans think of ourselves as the land of the free. But the rest of you who live outside our borders have experience with something we know little about. Those of you in China know Tianamen, Those of you in Korea know Kim, Those of you in Iraq knew Saddam, Those of you in Israel have family that knew of Hitler. How did you personally cope with a government that was turning a blind eye to the pain of its people?

We are sending our boys to die in Iraq because of a testosterone fueled rage over the horror of 9/11/2001. We cannot stop our governement. Even a great hero who served as our secretary of state disagreed with our action in Iraq.

On the other hand, Terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of unstable individuals is clearly a problem. How do you deal with that worry? Is it that the US is currently in the bulls=eye that you sleep safely at night?

We are in the global age. When a cell phone allows me to call for help when I see a stranded motorist. I no longer have to stop and physically help when I see someone who needs it. But I can still significantly help them. Why can we not help each other this way. The idea of the $100 laptop and broadband everywhere are a step this way I think. I can imagine an Iraqi child playing tetris who overhears of a bomb plot, and communicates this to a public safety internet site. I can imagine a Pakistani child playing his internet connected console who tells his playmates about a raid being talked about.

If we continue to brainwash our children into performing suicidal acts of war, we should empower them to at least stop and think about what they are doing before they do so. Peer pressure is a powerful force. Allowing children to share their feelings is better than force feeding them the biases of their parents. If children had a champion like the black people had in Martin Luther King, the world would be a better place.

If we cannot allow our children to save themselves, we should at least make our politicians feel their pain. Our senators, congressmen, ALL government officials, should spend months under the command of the lowest private - tasting what it is to serve our country. Even if they were a war hero. Continuing to serve your country and living from the money gathered by taxes requires that the politician live under the current rules , not the ribbons of past service.

Sadly this is a dream.

[alcimedes]

Mmm, political trolling. How I've missed you. Or not.

Next time read the posting guidelines.

Topics of a political nature, especially ones which offer polarized dogma or partisan rhetoric, are not allowed.

[murbot]

[alcimedes]

That image is from a Canadian, so consider your original post answered.